Fresh Air

Elton John says his father's early misgivings about his chosen career became a source of motivation: "He gave me the determination to make something of myself." He talks about his volatile childhood, addiction, and fame. Elton John's new memoir is called 'Me.'

Also, classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a documentary about the iconic opera singer Maria Callas.

Anthony Roth Costanzo is a countertenor, meaning he sings in a high range that's associated with women's voices. He knows all about the history of countertenors and their predecessors, castrati. He's about to star in the Metropolitan Opera's production of 'Akhnaten,' by Philip Glass. Costanzo plays the titular Pharaoh, who many people now think was gender fluid.

Film critic Justin Chang reviews the thriller 'Parasite...

Netflix just dropped the 'Breaking Bad' movie 'El Camino,' which picks up where the AMC series left off. TV critic David Bianculli reviews it, and we'll listen back to our interviews with series creator and writer Vince Gilligan and actor Aaron Paul.

Growing up in the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, Megan Phelps-Roper was told that God killed soldiers as punishment for America's sins and its tolerance of homosexuality. She started to question her beliefs after she began running the church's Twitter account. Her memoir about her decision to leave the church is 'Unfollow.'

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews 'Parasite,' which he calls "the most deviously entertaining con-artist thriller" he's seen in years.

'Bloomberg Businessweek' columnist Joshua Green explains how President Trump fell for a media campaign that was designed to help him: "The irony is that the target was supposed to be the Bidens, not the president," he says.

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the new memoir 'How We Fight For Our Lives' by Saeed Jones, about growing up gay and black in Texas.

And Kevin Whitehead reviews the new album 'The Ambiguity Manifesto' by cornet player and composer Taylor Ho Bynum.

Wylie exposed Cambridge Analytica's role in Brexit and the Trump presidential campaign. Cambridge Analytica collected personal data from millions of Facebook users, and used it to target people susceptible to conspiracy theories and disinformation. Wylie was the research director at Cambridge Analytica, before leaving in protest over the direction it had taken. His new book is 'Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America...

Costanzo is a countertenor, meaning he sings in a high range that's associated with women's voices. He knows all about the history of countertenors and their predecessors, castrati. He's about to star in the Metropolitan Opera's production of 'Akhnaten,' by Philip Glass. Costanzo plays the titular Pharaoh, who many people now think was gender fluid.

Antonio Banderas stars in Pedro Almodóvar's new film 'Pain and Glory' as a screenwriter and director suffering with physical pain, and pain of the soul. Banderas had a heart attack a few years ago, and talks about how the experience informed his performance.

Conan O'Brien recently switched up the format of his late-night show, and is about to launch the second season of his podcast, 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.' He talks about how his comedy has been driven in part by anxiety...

After writing biographies of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Mary Wollstonecraft, Tomalin turned to memoir. Her new work tells of her conflicting desires to have children and to lead a meaningful working life, her first husband's infidelity, and how long it took to find herself professionally.

Also, we remember opera star Jessye Norman, who died Monday. She was first exposed to opera as a child listening to live broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera...

President Trump made building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico a cornerstone of his 2016 presidential campaign. But when, after the election, efforts to build the wall stalled, he turned to other possible options — including constructing a trench filled with snakes and alligators — according to 'New York Times' journalists Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael Shear...