Sir Elton 'plans hip-hop album'

Sir Elton's Broadway musical Lestat closed prematurely in May

Sir Elton John is planning to record a hip-hop album, and hopes to collaborate with stars including Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West.

"I want to bring my songs and melodies to hip-hop beats," the singer, 59, told Rolling Stone, in an interview printed on their website.

"It may be a disaster, it could be fantastic, but you don't know until you try," he said.

Sir Elton's latest album, The Captain and the Kid, is released next month.

Grammy performance

"I want to work with Pharrell, Timbaland, Snoop, Kanye, Eminem and just see what happens," Sir Elton told Rolling Stone magazine.

He revealed he had not yet spoken to Dr Dre about the project, but was interested in producing a sound "a bit like No Diggity by Blackstreet".

The musician's lengthy career has included hits such as Rocket Man and the record-breaking ballad Candle in the Wind, as well as film soundtracks and West End musicals.

However, his only foray into the hip-hop genre so far has been a performance of Stan with chart-topping rapper Eminem at the 2001 Grammy awards.

Eminem was also responsible for remixing Tupac Shakur's Ghetto Gospel, and added a chorus of an Elton John song from the 1970s called Indian Sunset.

The track, put together for Tupac's posthumous Loyal to the Game album, spent three weeks at the top of the UK charts.