David Furnish

Early life and education

David Furnish was born in Toronto at Women's College Hospital, the son of Gladys and Jack Furnish, a director at Bristol-Myers Company, a pharmaceutical company. He has an older brother, John, and a younger brother, Peter. He graduated from the Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute in 1981 and received an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (HBA) from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario in 1985.

Career

After graduation, David Furnish was recruited by the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Canada in Toronto. At 27, he asked his firm to transfer him to their British principal offices in London, UK. Furnish flourished there, becoming the firm's youngest director of account services.

Furnish is co-chief of Rocket Pictures with his husband Elton John. Furnish serves on the board of the Elton John AIDS Foundation as chairman, attending fund-raising events and other events in support of the foundation. Furnish is a contributing editor for Tatler, a magazine, and also is a regular columnist for Interview and GQ. In 2015, he was named one of GQs 50 best dressed men in Britain.

In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Queerty named him along with Elton John, as one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people". In 2021, Furnish and Elton John received the Artist and Manager Partnership Award from the Music Managers Forum (MMF) in 2021. The award recognizes their work in music and charity.

Furnish won the Manager of the Year award at the 2022 Music Week Awards. In 2024, Furnish co-directed the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late alongside RJ Cutler.

Personal life

Furnish began a relationship with Elton John in 1993. Elton John proposed to Furnish in May 2005 at a dinner party with friends and family at one of their homes in Old Windsor. They entered into a civil partnership on 21 December 2005, the first day that civil partnerships were able to be performed in England, in the town of Windsor, Berkshire. Their first child was born on 25 December 2010 in California via surrogacy.

On 11 January 2013, the couple's second son was born through the same surrogate as their first. After same-sex marriage became legal in England and Wales in March 2014, they retroactively converted their civil partnership into a marriage and held a ceremony in Windsor on 21 December 2014, the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership.

In 2016, Furnish sought an anonymised privacy injunction in the case PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd.

Filmography

• Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras; director (1997)
• Women Talking Dirty; producer (1999)
• Desert Flower; co-producer (1999)
• Kofi Annan: Center of the Storm; executive producer (2002)
• Fame and Fashion: Inside Gucci – Sex and Fashion; director, script writer (2002)
• Fame and Fashion: Inside Versace – Fame and Fashion; director, script writer (2002)
• It's a Boy Girl Thing; producer (2006)
• Pride and Predator; producer (announced 2009)
• Gnomeo & Juliet; producer (2011)
• Billy Elliot the Musical Live; executive producer (2014)
• Virtuoso; executive producer (2015)
• Sherlock Gnomes; producer (2018)
• Rocketman; producer (2019)
• Elton John: Never Too Late, director (2024)
• Spinal Tap II, himself (2025)

Television

• Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...; producer (2008)

Theatre

• Billy Elliot the Musical; executive producer (March 2005)

References

References

1. Talk Talk. "David Furnish bio at TalkTalk.co.uk".
2. (21 December 2014). "Photos: Sir Elton John and David Furnish marry · PinkNews". Pinknews.co.uk.
3. (January 2026). "Matt & Andrej Koymasky - Famous GLTB - David Furnish".
4. (26 June 2015). "Pride grand marshal David Furnish reflects on growing up gay in a very different Toronto". Toronto Star.
5. (9 June 2023). "David Furnish on wiping out HIV/Aids, the 'weaponisation' of LGBTQ+ rights … and the day Putin called".
6. (5 January 2015). "50 Best Dressed Men in Britain 2015". GQ.
7. "Queerty Pride50 2019 Honorees".
8. "Elton John and David Furnish to be honoured at Artist & Manager Awards".
9. "Exclusive: Elton John speaks out on the charts, Brexit & why women are making the best music in 2022".
10. (16 October 2024). "David Furnish Admits Making Film About Husband Elton John Got "Too Emotionally Upsetting" At Times". Hollywood Reporter.
11. (28 December 2010). "Elton John and David Furnish are dads". CNN.
12. (16 January 2013). "Special Announcement".
13. (21 December 2014). "Sir Elton John and David Furnish marry". BBC.
14. (20 April 2016). "British papers can report Furnish's infidelity". The Straits Times.
15. "Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras".
16. Elley, Derek. (11 October 1999). "Women Talking Dirty".
17. (13 January 2013). "In my view: Sex and Fashion: Inside Gucci". [[Manchester Evening News]].
18. "Inside Versace Fame and Fashion (2002)".
19. French, Philip. (31 December 2006). "It's a Boy Girl Thing". The Guardian.
20. Child, Ben. (17 February 2009). "Pride and Predator to give Jane Austen an extreme makeover". The Guardian.
21. (9 February 2011). "Gnomeo and Juliet: Exclusive interview with Elton John and David".
22. "David Furnish".
23. Wagmeister, Elizabeth. (27 January 2015). "HBO Orders Musical Period Drama Pilot From Elton John & 'True Blood' Creator".
24. "British Council Film: Sherlock Gnomes".
25. (22 February 2019). "David Furnish says Elton John biopic Rocketman is giving him 'sleepless nights'".
26. Stephen Daw, [https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/elton-john-documentary-premiere-toronto-film-festival-1235712612/ "Elton John’s New Documentary ‘Never Too Late’ to Debut at Toronto International Film Festival"]. ''[[Billboard (magazine). Billboard]]'', June 18, 2024.