Elton John announced today that he became a father over the weekend at the age of 63. The singer welcomed a baby boy on Christmas Day with partner, David Furnish.

Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John was born in California to a surrogate mother. The name Levon is the title of a track on John's 1971 album Madman Across the Water.

The couple said in a statement, "We are overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment. Zachary is healthy and doing really well, and we are very proud and happy parents."

The "Candle in the Wind" singer spoke about his desire to be a father through adoption last fall. He had initially objected to becoming a parent because of his age, but the death of his keyboard player, Guy Babylon, helped change his mind. John described Babylon's two children as "wonderful" and said, "What better opportunity to replace someone I lost than to replace him with someone I can give a future to?"

However, there may be legal issues for the new parents if they intend to raise their son in the UK. Whereas California has no cap on how much surrogates can be paid, the UK has strict regulations against the commercialization or profitability of surrogacy, which usually amounts to 10,000 pounds in the UK.