Although he’s worked as Elton John’s road manager for nearly 20 years, D.C. Parmet said not a day goes by he doesn’t think how wonderful life is that he gets to tour the world with his idol.

“The first album I ever bought was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” said Parmet. “I had no idea as a kid, sitting there looking at the album in the 70s that someday I would spend a good chunk of my working life with the man on the cover of the album.”

Speaking to Metro by phone backstage from Rogers Arena where he was readying the stage for the British pop legend’s Vancouver performance this weekend, Parmet said he never imagined as a child living in small-town Arizona that working in the music industry was even a possibility. “It didn’t seem like a career path because where do you apply for those jobs? You just can’t go to Craigslist and see, ‘Wanted: Elton John road manager,’” he said with a laugh.

It was a long journey filled with chance encounters that saw Parmet eventually find his way to the top. As a teenager in the 1980s, he started selling t-shirts at concerts, eventually landing a gig at the company that supplied the merchandise. Then, in 1998, Parmet met a member of Elton John’s concert staff. When the group started hiring for his tour that year, Parmet said his now-boss recommended him for the gig. “I sort of worked my way up the food chain,” he said. “In some ways, it’s like being Forrest Gump where he was always in the right place at the right time.”

Parmet still remembers the moment he first met Elton, which he described as a dream come true. “I was incredibly nervous. I mean, it’s Elton John!” he recalled the scene with a laugh. “Someone introduced me to him, and he patted me on the cheek and said, ‘Oh, dear boy, you’re the accountant? No wonder you look nervous!’”

After two decades of working together, Parmet said he’s become friends with Elton, developing a rapport that often sees them joke around with each other backstage. “He knows I’m a fan of the Minnesota Twins,” he said. “So he’ll trash talk me about my team if they’re not doing well.” When the two aren’t at odds over rival baseball teams, Parmet said Elton is a “proper English gentleman” who will often take the time to chat with the crew and ask about their families.

As an audiophile, Parmet said he always enjoys talking to Elton about music. “He’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music,” he said. “You name a song and he’ll tell you the artist, the year, the chart position.”

Although Parmet has toured with Elton for almost two decades, enduring the same exhausting tour schedule with dozens of stops around the world for months at a time, he said the job never gets old. “When the house lights go down, and you can hear everyone screaming and cheering, it makes it all worthwhile,” he said.

When Elton takes to the stage at Rogers Arena for his two performances this weekend, Parmet said fans can expect to hear a variety of music from almost every album released during his five-decade career, including both the hits and the “deep album tracks” that only hardcore fans may recognize. “I like to call it a journey through his career,” he said. “There will be something for everybody.”

Back to Headlines