Elton John counts his blessings

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Fresh from speaking at the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington, DC, Elton John, 65, talked about the personal side of the epidemic and acknowledging his addiction to sex, alcohol and cocaine.

Saying he's been clean and sober for twenty-two years as of next week, he said he can now cope with the ups and downs of life.

"I found a partner of 19 years, I have son, I have a career, I have wonderful friends. I'm the luckiest person in the world and it's all because one young boy," refering to Ryan White, a Indiana teenager who was infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment in the early 1980's.

"And his family showed me what they were doing was right and what I was doing was disgusting," John told Reuters.

Change plays a crucial role for the singer as he explains upon hearing the news that "Good Morning to the Night" marked his first number one album in Britain in twenty years.

He said his new book titled "Love is the Cure: On Life, Loss, and the End of AIDS, is about salvation.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Elton John AIDS Foundations which has raised and donated $275 million U.S. dollars to fight the AIDS epidemic and help those affected by it. The foundation supports hundreds of projects focusing on marginalized, stigmatized, and at-risk populations in fifty-five countries.