Elton John and partner David Furnish have become fathers and recently welcomed their new son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, who was born to a surrogate mother in California.
The baby was born on December 25 - Christmas Day, Us Weekly magazine reported. The child's biological father and mother were not identified.
John, a 63-year-old Grammy-winning singer known for songs such as "Rocket Man" and "Your Song," and Furnish, a 48-year-old Canadian filmmaker, have been together since the 1990s and entered into a civil union in 2005.
"We are overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment," John and Furnish told the magazine in a joint statement. "Zachary is healthy and doing really well, and we are very proud and happy parents."
The pair, one of the most high-profile gay couples in the world, tried to adopt an AIDS-infected orphan in Ukraine last year, but was rejected. Local laws say the age difference between an adoptive parent and a child must be 45 years or less and parents must be married. The European country also does not recognize John's union with Furnish as a legal marriage.
