BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Elton John turns to Tammy Bakker, queen of the TV God squad

The second coming of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker — she of the outlandish fluttery eyelashes — will soon be upon us, thanks to Elton John. The rock superstar told me yesterday how he and the Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears spent the past eight years studying the life and times of Tammy Faye and first husband, preacher Jim Bakker. ‘We realised that theirs was a real life, rags-to-riches story, played out against the backdrop of evangelism in 80’s America,’ Elton told me of the woman who became Tammy Faye Bakker Messner after remarrying. Messner died after a long battle with cancer on Friday, July 20, 2007 The rock superstar told me yesterday how he and the Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears spent the past eight years studying the life and times of Tammy Faye, pictured in 1996 He said he’d always been fascinated by ‘the point where TV evangelism and entertainment meet’. David Furnish, Elton’s husband, worked with Joseph Smith, who runs the couple’s Rocket Stage division of their Rocket Entertainment empire, to put on a reading in London of the Tammy Faye musical.