George Michael: A Life

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In 2004, Michael said, "I used to sleep with women quite a lot in the Wham! days but never felt it could develop into a relationship because I knew that, emotionally, I was a gay man. I didn't want to commit to them, but I was attracted to them. Then I became ashamed that I might be using them. I decided I had to stop, which I did when I began to worry about AIDS, which was becoming prevalent in Britain. Although I had always had safe sex, I didn't want to sleep with a woman without telling her I was bisexual. I felt that would be irresponsible. Basically, I didn't want to have that uncomfortable conversation that might ruin the moment, so I stopped sleeping with them." In the same interview, he added: "If I wasn't with Kenny [his boyfriend at the time], I would have sex with women, no question". He said he believed that the formation of his sexuality was "a nurture thing, via the absence of my father who was always busy working. It meant I was exceptionally close to my mother", though he stated that "there are definitely those who have a predisposition to being gay in which the environment is irrelevant." [160] In 2007, Michael said he had hidden his sexuality because of worries over what effect it might have on his mother. [161] Two years later, he added: "My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realise I was gay, not bisexual." [164] From that point on, he could not easily face reality cold any more, it was too painful for him. He had to buffer himself from all of the pain around him,” Gavin said. George Michael’s career after that did not make too many headlines in the U.S.A., which may explain why he sort of dropped off my radar. His subsequent albums following Faith did not register too high on the American charts, and he got very little radio play. And that really bugged him. He was successful in the U.K. and other countries, but continued success with North American audiences eluded him.

With the success of Michael's solo singles, " Careless Whisper" (1984) and " A Different Corner" (1986), rumours of an impending break up of Wham! intensified. The duo officially separated in 1986, after releasing a farewell single, " The Edge of Heaven" and a farewell compilation, The Final (their third album Music from the Edge of Heaven was released in North America and Japan), plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium that included the world premiere of the China film. [46] The Wham! partnership ended officially with the commercially successful single "The Edge of Heaven", which reached No. 1 on the UK chart in June 1986. [47] Solo career 1987–1989 In 2006, Michael performed a free concert for NHS nurses in London to thank the nurses who had cared for his late mother. He told the audience: "Thank you for everything you do — some people appreciate it. Now if we can only get the government to do the same thing." [222]Shortly before his death, Michael told broadcaster Kirsty Young that he hoped a period of downtime from music would "result in something spectacular" and she later wrote of their interview that she felt he "had a lot of hope that good things were ahead". Sadly, it wasn't to be. While he featured on a few singles in his final years, he had not released an album of new material since his fifth record Patience in 2004. George was a control freak about the recording process in the studio, as well as making music videos. He often took over both mediums until it met his liking. He grew disgusted with the publicity hounds and decided to not even appear in his own music videos, preferring to hire and orchestrate famous models to lip synch his songs. He was addicted to various drugs and got into repeated car accidents where he would nod off at the wheel. Often times he would get off with a slap on the wrist because of who he was, but there came a time when the law could no longer look away without repercussions. On 23 July 2006, Michael was again accused of engaging in anonymous public sex, this time at London's Hampstead Heath. [190] Michael stated that his cruising for anonymous sex was not an issue in his relationship with partner Kenny Goss. [191] Having charted at number two upon its release in 1984 (behind Band Aid's " Do They Know It's Christmas?" which Michael also performed in), "Last Christmas" finally reached number-one in the UK Singles Chart on New Year's Day 2021 (chart week ending date 7 January 2021), more than 36 years after its initial release. [140] Andrew Ridgeley said the chart placing was "a testament to its timeless appeal and charm", adding: "It is a fitting tribute to George's song-writing genius... he would have been immensely proud and utterly thrilled." [140] The period of 36 years taken to reach number one was a UK chart record, which would be surpassed by Kate Bush with " Running Up That Hill" in June 2022 which took 37 years. [141] Posthumous releases

I recommend this book to anyone who has ever loved George Michael. But more than that, I recommend it to gay men, and to anyone who has ever loved a gay man. I think it will be particularly moving and enlightening for anyone who has ever been closeted or loved a closeted person. It definitely was for me. Following his death, many charities and individuals posted on social media about Michael's generous philanthropic acts and how he often donated his time and much of his wealth anonymously. The pop star avoided making headlines for his many acts of kindness, which included volunteering at a homeless shelter, paying for a woman's fertility treatments and tipping a waitress thousands of dollars to help her pay for her nursing school debts. He also anonymously gave millions of dollars to charities, including Childline, a counseling service for children in the U.K. "No one outside the charity knew how much he gave to the nation's most vulnerable children," said Dame Esther Rantzen, the charity’s founder, said in an interview with the British news outlet ITN.In the early hours of Christmas Day 2016, Michael died in bed at his home in Goring-on-Thames, at the age of 53. He was found by his partner, Fadi Fawaz. [182] [183] [251] In March 2017, a senior coroner in Oxfordshire attributed Michael's death to natural causes due to dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and a fatty liver. [252] [253] [254] [255] The epilogue made me tear up because George isn't here to see that his work is being celebrated by a new generation and he's even viewed as having paved the way for gay men to feel free to be who they are and to live their lives the way they want. He died a very sad and tormented man, all alone on Christmas Eve.

Michael released " Fastlove", an energetic tune about wanting gratification and fulfilment without commitment, in 1996. The single version was nearly five minutes long. "Fastlove" was supported by a futuristic virtual reality-related video. The single reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top spot. [13] In the US, "Fastlove" peaked at No. 8. [14] Following "Fastlove", Michael released Older, his third studio album. [92] In the UK, the album was particularly notable for producing a record six top three hit singles in a two-year span. [93] I wanted to be a star and I wanted people to love me … but I never really wanted to be someone else.” George Michael gets the former Wham! manager Simon Napier-Bell’s documentary treatment (after Saturday’s 27: Gone Too Soon). Contributors including his partner Kenny Goss, Jo Whiley, Stevie Wonder and Stephen Fry remember the magic of his music and the bitterness of the cost of fame. Hollie Richardson Jamie Cooks the Mediterranean 8pm, Channel 4 In April 2011, Michael released a cover of Stevie Wonder's 1972 song, "You and I," as a gift to Prince William and Kate Middleton prior to the couple's wedding. In August of that year, the singer-songwriter began performing as part of his Symphonica Tour, which ended early after Michael fell ill with pneumonia a few months into the series. The following year, Michael performed "Freedom! 90" and "White Light" at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held in London.They shared a love of music, “and an extremely juvenile sense of humour, [which] was the central pillar of our relationship”. They would pretend to do radio shows, “where we’d take off DJs, and we’d recreate scenes from movies. We saw things very much the same way.” Michael was the shy, self-conscious boy – worried about his weight, and with frizzy hair and glasses. It was Ridgeley who was stylish, had a cast-iron self-assurance and felt desperate to be in a band. “I did have to sort of railroad him,” he says. Michael – when he talks about his friend, he often slips into the present tense – “says he always wanted to be a songwriter and an artist, but he didn’t seem to have that when we were growing up – that focus and drive to put aside everything else”. Michael came out as gay in 1998, and was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. His personal life, drug use, and legal troubles made headlines following an arrest for public lewdness in 1998 and multiple drug-related offences. The 2005 documentary A Different Story covered his career and personal life. Michael's 25 Live tour spanned three tours from 2006 to 2008. Michael fell into a coma in 2011 during a bout with pneumonia, but later recovered. He performed his final concert at London's Earls Court in 2012. Michael died of heart disease on Christmas Day in 2016, at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. He is pleased with the documentary, which is true to the spirit of Wham!, “essentially a manifestation of our friendship and our youthfulness”. They blazed brightly – a blur of neon and hairspray and energy – for four short years, during which they produced incredible songs, among them Club Tropicana, Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Last Christmas. “They each have character,” says Ridgeley. “We grew up listening to a really varied range of music. We never confined our listening to a particular genre. We were fans of everything.”

Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 was released in September 1990. The title is an indication of his desire to be taken more seriously as a songwriter. [69] The album was released in Europe on 3 September 1990, and one week later in the US. It reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart [13] and peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200. [14] It spent a total of 88 weeks on the UK Albums Chart and was certified four-times Platinum by the BPI. [70] The album produced five UK singles, all of which were released within an eight-month period: " Praying for Time", " Waiting for That Day", " Freedom! '90", " Heal the Pain", and " Cowboys and Angels" (the latter being his only single not to chart in the UK top 40). [13] Michael refused to do any promotion for the album. [68] At the 1991 Brit Awards, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 won the award for Best British Album. [71]Dropping out of high school, Michael and Ridgeley started a short-lived ska band called the Executive. That band only played a few gigs before it fell apart, but Michael and Ridgeley soon found success. In 1982, they landed a recording contract with Innervision records and became known as Wham! Their first album, Fantastic!, was released in the United Kingdom in 1982, and climbed as high as the No. 4 spot on the charts there (it was released in the United States the following year). With their youthful good looks, Wham! soon developed a devoted following among teenage girls. Songs: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Careless Whisper" The Five Live EP [87] featured five live recordings (six in several countries) performed by Michael, Queen, and Lisa Stansfield. "Somebody to Love" and "These Are the Days of Our Lives" were recorded at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. " Killer", " Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", and " Calling You" were recorded during his Cover to Cover tour in 1991. [84] [85] Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael (1998) was Michael's first solo greatest hits collection. The collection of 28 songs (29 songs are included on the European and Australian release) are separated into two halves, with each containing a particular theme and mood. The first CD, titled "For the Heart", predominantly contains ballads; the second CD, "For the Feet", consists mainly of dance tunes. It was released through Sony Music Entertainment as a condition of severing contractual ties with the label. [99] Ladies & Gentlemen was a success, peaking at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for eight weeks. [13] It spent over 200 weeks in the UK chart, and is the 45th best-selling album of all time in the UK. [100] It is certified seven-times platinum in the UK and multi-platinum in the US, and is Michael's most commercially successful album in his homeland, having sold more than 2.8million copies. [70] As of 2013, the album had reached worldwide sales of approximately 15million copies. [101] The first single of the album, " Outside", was a humorous song making a reference to his arrest for soliciting a policeman in a public toilet. " As", his duet with Mary J. Blige, was released as the second single in many territories around the world. Both singles reached the top 5 in the UK Singles Chart. [13] In 2012, Michael entered a relationship with Fadi Fawaz, a Lebanese-Australian celebrity hairstylist and freelance photographer based in London. [180] [181] It was Fawaz who found Michael's body on Christmas morning 2016. [182] [183] Legal troubles George Michael's Style: Remembering His Top 5 Iconic Looks". Billboard. 27 December 2016. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021 . Retrieved 6 July 2021.