Hi, Ed? Elton here. Love your band, especially that Shine song. The "hey" thing is groovy, baby. I wish I'd thought of that on Crocodile Rock. Let's do dinner ...

And that's how it started (more or less) - how a young, grassroots rock band from Bigheadbanjo, Georgia, became friends with their boyhood hero: Sir Elton John. Playing tomorrow in Red's, Collective Soul is collectively thrilled to have such a legendary fan. Needless to say, it was a great honour to have the knighted pop star perform on the band's latest album, Blender. Elton duets with singer-songwriter Ed Roland on Perfect Day (not to be confused with the new U2 song, Beautiful Day; such optimistic pop stars we have these days) - a "straight-up pop tune" on an album that goes all over the map, style-wise.

"He's a fan. (Elton) actually got Ed's number and called him," brother Dean says. "They went and had dinner and it started with that, about four or five years ago."

While Blender was being recorded, Elton happened to be in the neighbourhood (he actually lives part-time in Atlanta). He knocked out the tune in two or three takes, Dean reports. It was intimidating at first, but "he's really great about making people feel comfortable. He's really witty and funny and there was none of the weirdness. At times you'd pinch yourself and say, 'wow, it's Elton John,' all the things he's accomplished and how long he's maintained his career ... He was one of the most influential people on our band, and on Ed especially."

A relaxed attitude (no lawsuits hanging over the head, as there were in 1998) and an "open-door" policy in the studio (Shawn Mullins popped by to sing a track, too) seems to have done wonders for the Collective Soul sound. Ed wore his producer's hat and went wild with the electronics, drum loops and so on, but the songs at their core are made of the same catchy blend of classic and modern rock that made the band so big to begin with.

If you can play a pop song on nothing more than an acoustic guitar and it still stands up, Dean says, "you know you have a really decent song."

No one-hit wonders, these guys. It's more like an eight-hit wonder at this point.

ELTON ISN'T QUITTING AFTER ALL: Collective Soul may have got lucky. Elton John isn't always on his best behaviour. During a show in New York last week, the 53-year-old star threw another of his famous hissy fits, informing the crowd that he plans to pack it in after making one more album. Say it ain't so, the shocked fans gasped. OK. It ain't so. Elton's spokesman, presumably used to such outbursts, said yesterday that the announcement was a "load of bollocks" and likely inspired by technical difficulties. Don't worry. Whether we want him to or not, Elton John won't go away.