MANKATO — They don’t come much bigger than Elton John.

The bespectacled one himself — the same who is called “Sir Elton” across the pond, has sold more than 250 million records and owns the record for the top-selling single of all time — is performing April 22 at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato.

“It’s the biggest show we’ve ever done,” said Eric Jones, marketing manager for the civic center. “Maybe the biggest show we could ever do.”

Jones said the opportunity to host the eccentrically styled singer/songwriter blossomed last year during his swing through the Midwest. Jones said he couldn’t find an agreeable date with the promoter at the time but kept in contact in ensuing months.

“I kept asking, ‘What have you heard about Elton John? What have you heard about Elton John?’” Jones said.

Last fall, the efforts paid off when Jones booked an April concert date. But then the hardest work began: Keeping the event quiet.

Jones described Elton John’s promotions and marketing machine as “very professional” and “very strict.” Jones and a select few others who knew about the event dared not even discuss it with friends and family.

“We had to be very quiet,” he said.

In a career that has spanned five decades, John has become one of the most successful artists of all time in terms of record sales.

His single “Candle in the Wind 1997” has sold more than 37 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling single in Billboard history.

John boasts 56 Top 40 singles and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Tony. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received knighthood in 1998.

The man born as Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947 got his start as a pub pianist at age 15. In 1967, John answered an ad in the New Musical Express and met Bernie Taupin, the man with whom John maintains a songwriting partnership still today.

Last year, John played his 3,000th concert.

Tickets for the Mankato performance go on sale March 5 at 10 a.m.

Tickets cost $139, $79 and $39 and will be available online at www.Ticketmaster.com and at the Verizon Wireless Center box office. Charge by phone by calling 800-745-3000.

There is an eight-ticket maximum per customer.