Elton John's fears

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Elton John

Elton John fears he will not see his sons grow up and achieve their ambitions.

At a press event in New York on Wednesday, the Rocketman star, 70, announced that his next three-year world tour will be his last, telling fans he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Asked by WENN if he expected to see his sons Zachary, seven, and Elijah, five, follow in his footsteps and become touring musicians, he said, "I don't think I'm going to be alive by the time they're 18 or 19, they love the piano, they love the guitar, they love music, they can do what ever they want They can be a footballer or an astronaut."

The star also confessed that he had thought he would continue forever, but that meeting his husband David Furnish and becoming a father had completely changed his outlook on life.

"David and I sat down with a school schedule, and I thought, I don't want to miss too much of this," he said. "When I stop, they're going to be 10 and eight, and that's a very important time of their lives. I see them a lot anyway. But I love them so much. I don't want to miss them and I don't want them to miss me."

He also gushed, "I love my kids so much, they really have taken over my life and they're the most important thing."

To stay close to his kids, Elton said he would be taking them on tour with him, and will have them tutored on the road on the European leg of his trek.

Elton insisted that his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which begins in Pennsylvania in September, would be his last, joking that he was "not Cher" and explaining that he had been planning to bow out for a few years.

"This was decided in 2015 in the South of France," he revealed, explaining that he hoped to go out in an "elegant and classy" way.