Elton John, after living a life typifying both Sixties 'hip' and Seventies 'swing', and passing through all the obligatory cycles of sex, drugs, depravity, and bad pop phases, has now decided to give up the debauchery, and get married.

He is set to wed longtime boyfriend David Furnish, saying he has "never been so happy". The couple has been linked since 1993, and London's Observer dubbed Elton and his 40-year-old partner "the most conspicuous gay couple in the world."

Calling his earlier depression, alcohol and suicide-ridden lifestyle "like a wild animal", the 57 year old musician told the German Gala magazine that he was "happy that person no longer exists."

The pop legend said: "We haven't set a date and it surely won't be a big public ceremony but I would like to place my life in his hands with a wedding vow." He called Canadian-born Furnish "the most important person in my life", and added: "I cannot imagine a life without him."

Elton claims to have had enough of the spotlight, but shying away is unlikely to last long for the man often called 'the worst dressed woman in the world'. Elton loves making a spectacle for the media, and in just the last few weeks, targets of his venom have included Madonna, young lip-syncing pop-tarts, Robbie Williams, and Taiwanese photographers.

Photographs: Getty Images