Sir Elton John is obsessed with nodding dogs.

The 'Rocket Man' hitmaker owns ''thousands'' of the plastic pooches with wobbling heads and insists they have their own room backstage wherever he goes.

His friend and Grammy Awards duet partner Ed Sheeran said: ''He's got nodding dogs. There's a room everywhere he goes with thousands of these nodding figures.

''That's his thing - he takes nodding dog figures with him for his dressing room.

''But if you had that status and you wanted it, you would.''

Meanwhile Ed, 22, has admitted his own backstage requests are much more modest - though not easy to come by on his current tour, supporting Taylor Swift in the US.

He said: ''I've got to a status where I can ask for stuff and I requested Robinson's Fruit & Barley.

''I ask for it in America and it's difficult to get.''

As well as his nodding dogs, it was recently revealed Elton requested an extra hotel room just for his glasses during a recent visit to Brazil.

The '65-year-old singer requested the additional quarters to house his spectacles at the Ouro Minas five-star hotel in Belo Horizonte ahead of a gig earlier this month, and he asked organisers of the show to ensure the temperature of the extra room was maintained at 16 degrees Celsius (60.8 Fahrenheit).

The 'Candle in the Wind' star also made a number of beverage requests including four bottles of cranberry juice, a pint of fresh skimmed milk and two bottles of good quality Pinot Grigio wine, as well as eight small bottles of French Evian water, and five large bottles or 12 small bottles of San Pellegrino sparkling water.