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The baby, named Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born December 25 to a surrogate for John, 63, and 48-year-old Canadian filmmaker Furnish, added the statement, which was first given to the magazine US Weekly.
"Zachary is healthy and doing really well, and we are very proud and happy parents."
The baby weighed 3.5 kilos (seven pounds, 15 ounces), the statement said. US Weekly added the couple would not be discussing any details relating to the surrogacy arrangements.
Among the first to react to the news was the couple's friend, British model and actress Elizabeth Hurley, who wrote on her Twitter page: "Massive congratulations to David and Elton on having their beautiful son. Can't wait for my first cuddle."
John and Furnish married in 2005 after 12 years together. John had tried to adopt a 14-month-old boy he met while visiting an orphanage in Ukraine last year, but his attempt failed because Ukrainian law does not permit couples in same-sex marriages to adopt.
The singer admitted at the time that while Furnish had always wanted to adopt a child, he himself believed parenthood was incompatible with his lifestyle but changed his mind after the Ukrainian boy "stole my heart."
By turning to a surrogate mother, John has followed in the footsteps of "Sex in the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker and her actor husband Matthew Broderick who had twin girls by a surrogate mother in 2009.
Latino pop star Ricky Martin also used a surrogate to have twin boys before announcing he was gay.
John and Furnish have a home in Britain, where surrogacy has increasingly become an option for gay couples over the past decade.
But it is tightly regulated under British law and couples often opt to have a surrogate child in countries where the rules are less demanding.
Only last year, Furnish told People magazine the couple was going to wait to start a family until John was ready to come off the road.
"We don't want to put the raising of children into the hands of nannies and housekeepers," said Furnish. "We want to be active parents. We have godchildren [and] kids that we support in Africa, so we're fine."
Elton John has sold more than 250 million records in a career spanning four decades and the singer-songwriter was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
His tribute single to the late Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind 1997" -- a remake of his own "Candle in the Wind" -- became a phenomenal global success, selling more than 33 million copies, and he performed it at her funeral.
He admitted in a TV interview this month that he came "very close" to being killed by drugs in the 1970s.
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"Zachary is healthy and doing really well, and we are very proud and happy parents."
The baby weighed 3.5 kilos (seven pounds, 15 ounces), the statement said. US Weekly added the couple would not be discussing any details relating to the surrogacy arrangements.
Among the first to react to the news was the couple's friend, British model and actress Elizabeth Hurley, who wrote on her Twitter page: "Massive congratulations to David and Elton on having their beautiful son. Can't wait for my first cuddle."
John and Furnish married in 2005 after 12 years together. John had tried to adopt a 14-month-old boy he met while visiting an orphanage in Ukraine last year, but his attempt failed because Ukrainian law does not permit couples in same-sex marriages to adopt.
The singer admitted at the time that while Furnish had always wanted to adopt a child, he himself believed parenthood was incompatible with his lifestyle but changed his mind after the Ukrainian boy "stole my heart."
By turning to a surrogate mother, John has followed in the footsteps of "Sex in the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker and her actor husband Matthew Broderick who had twin girls by a surrogate mother in 2009.
Latino pop star Ricky Martin also used a surrogate to have twin boys before announcing he was gay.
John and Furnish have a home in Britain, where surrogacy has increasingly become an option for gay couples over the past decade.
But it is tightly regulated under British law and couples often opt to have a surrogate child in countries where the rules are less demanding.
Only last year, Furnish told People magazine the couple was going to wait to start a family until John was ready to come off the road.
"We don't want to put the raising of children into the hands of nannies and housekeepers," said Furnish. "We want to be active parents. We have godchildren [and] kids that we support in Africa, so we're fine."
Elton John has sold more than 250 million records in a career spanning four decades and the singer-songwriter was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
His tribute single to the late Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind 1997" -- a remake of his own "Candle in the Wind" -- became a phenomenal global success, selling more than 33 million copies, and he performed it at her funeral.
He admitted in a TV interview this month that he came "very close" to being killed by drugs in the 1970s.
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