George Michael

For other people named George Michael, see George Michael (disambiguation).

George Michael (born 25th June 1963) is a British pop singer/songwriter of English and Greek descent who (as a solo artist and half of the duo WHAM!) has sold an estimated total of 80 million records.

Biography

Early life

George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in East Finchley, London, to a Greek Cypriot father and a British mother. He began his career by forming a short-lived band called The Executive together with his best friend Andrew Ridgeley, a fellow pupil at Bushey Meads School.

WHAM!

It wasn't until he formed the duo Wham! together with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981 that success came for Michael. The band's first album, Fantastic!, was an instant success, and within a year they had released their classic debut single, Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do). Their second single, Young Guns (Go For It), became the first in a string of Top 10 hits in the UK singles chart. They were rapidly followed by titles such as Bad Boys, Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Freedom, Last Christmas/Everything She Wants, I'm Your Man and a second album, Make It Big. George also sang on the original Band Aid recording of Do They Know It's Christmas and donated the profits from Last Christmas/Everything She Wants to the charity. He also added background vocals to David Cassidy's 1985 hit The Last Kiss.

Wham!'s tour of China in April 1985 (the first visit to China by a Western pop act) generated enormous worldwide media coverage - much of it centered on George Michael. The tour was documented by celebrated film director Lindsay Anderson and producer Martin Lewis in their film Foreign Skies: Wham! In China and contributed to an ever-widening awareness of Michael as a personality.

With the success of his solo releases Careless Whisper (1984) and A Different Corner (1986) stories of an impending Wham! split intensified, and WHAM! separated in the summer of 1986 after a farewell single, The Edge of Heaven and album, plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium that included the world premiere of the China film.

Solo career

File:GeorgeMichealFastlove.jpg

George Michael performing Fastlove

Some of his biggest hit singles as a solo artist include the single "Faith," taken from his debut album Faith. The album not only became number one on both sides of the Atlantic but also resulted in four number one singles in America. In 1986 he dueted with both Aretha Franklin and Jody Watley. In 1989 he again sang backing vocals on a record called Heaven Help Me with longtime friend Deon Estus. The song was written by both of them, and just missed out on the British the top 40, reaching #5 in America.

"Careless Whisper" (written when he was seventeen) became one of the most played songs of the decade and voted Londoner's favourite record of all time in January 1995, in a competition run jointly by the capital's leading evening newspaper and radio station. He was then also voted Best Male Singer by the same radio station and by the readers of a national newspaper. Some of his other hits include "Father Figure", "Kissing a Fool", "One More Try", "Freedom 90", "Fastlove", "Jesus to a Child", "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (a duet with Elton John), 2002's "Freeek!" and the controversial song and video "Shoot the Dog" which is a commentary on Tony Blair's partnership with George Bush in Bush's 'War on Terror' .

His work covers a variety of pop styles, from ballads to funky dance tracks. In a career spanning more than twenty years, George Michael has been responsible for more than 80 million album sales.

Michael was involved in a 1993 court case concerning his record contract after his record company CBS was taken over by Sony. Amongst Michael's complaints was that Sony had not fully supported the release of his second solo album resulting in its poor performance in the U.S. compared to Faith. Sony responded that Michael had refused to appear in promotional videos and it was this that had caused the poor response to the album. The case was heard in London and was found against Michael. As a consequence, Michael declared he would not release any new material until he had completed the minimum of his contractual obligations to Sony.

Having decided to release his new material through a number of labels on a single-by-single basis, Michael found a home at Sony for his new, highly anticipated album Patience. It was released in March 2004 after two popular singles released through Polydor Records. Patience debuted at number one in the UK album charts and number two in Australia.

Michael was also engaged in more controversy when he shut down his online Official Forum/Message Board because he did not like the petty bickering about his cousin. Also, the moderating/webmaster team were not doing their job properly. This alienated and polarised his fanbase and many fans dispersed to new online fan communities.

During the 2005 event Live 8, George Michael joined Paul McCartney on stage, harmonizing on "Drive My Car". He couldn't perform a separate set himself because of a head cold. At the event, Michael told BBC Radio 1 that he was writing and recording music at home and hinted that was considering a tour in 2006.

It was announced on 21 April, 2006 that he would embark on a 50-date tour in 2006 called "25 Live" to commemorate 25 years of being in the music business. The tour is set to kick off 23rd September 2006 in Barcelona, Spain. A new greatest hits package will be released to coincide with the tour. The new album will feature four new tracks.

This will be the fourth "best of" package of George Michael material after 1986's "The Final", 1997's "If You Were There" (both Wham! collections) and 1998's solo collection "Ladies & Gentlemen".

Michael has also stated that he's recording a new version of "Heal the Pain" with Paul McCartney. "We're doing some recording later this week actually. We're gonna do another version of one of my old songs called "Heal the Pain" – which I wrote as a tribute to him and so I'm incredibly honoured that he's gonna sing it for me," Michael said.

Future career

In a recent interview with Michael Parkinson on Britain's ITV television channel, Michael announced his intention to tour for the first time in 15 years.

He announced that he would embark on a 50-date European tour entitled 25 Live beginning in Barcelona on 23rd September 2006, and ending up at Wembley Arena in London in December.

He also confirmed his intention to form a Civil Partnership with long-time partner Kenny Goss. He told Parkinson "they will do the legal formal thing, then a party". He also quipped that "none of them would be donning a dress".

To coincide with the tour a new greatest hits collection "Twenty Five" will be released on 9th Nov 2006, including four new songs. The lead single "An Easier Affair" debuted on radio on 24th May 2006 and was released by Sony BMG as a download on 19th June and as a CD release on 26th June. This new single became a no. 1 in the UK dance charts and reached no. 13 in the UK singles chart upon physical release (download entered the charts at no. 74).

Due to an overwhelming response by fans to his recently announced tour celebrating 25 years in the music industry, George Michael, as stated by his publicist, is considering a North American tour.

George is set to release a new single with ex-Sugababe Mutya "This Is Not Real Love", sometime in November 2006.

Personal Life

Sexual orientation

Michael was initially private about his sexual orientation, with rumours of relationships with high-profile women and backing dancers common tabloid fodder during his Wham! career.

These persisted into his solo career, but Michael had already established a relationship with Brazilian Anselmo Feleppa. Michael and Feleppa enjoyed a loving relationship, but after two years Feleppa died of an AIDS-related brain haemorrhage in 1993. Michael's single Jesus To A Child is a tribute to Feleppa.

Questions of his sexual orientation persisted in public, until the 7th April 1998, with his arrest for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet in a park in Beverly Hills, USA. He was arrested by an undercover policeman named Marcelo Rodriguez.

George Michael: "Well, I was followed into the restroom, and then, this cop – well, I didn't know he was a cop at the time obviously – he started playing this game. I think it's called ‘I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm gonna nick you!'"

After pleading "no contest" to the charge, Michael was fined $810 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. After that incident he became open about his homosexuality. He also became public about his relationship with Kenny Goss, a Texan sports clothing executive with Adidas , his partner since that time.

Soon afterwards, Michael made a video for his single "Outside" which was clearly based on the public toilet incident and which featured men dressed up as policemen kissing. Rodriguez, the police officer, claimed that this video "mocked" him, and also that Michael had slandered him in interviews, and in 1999 brought a ten million dollar court case in California against the singer. The court dismissed the case on the grounds related to the officer's status as a public official, but an appeals court reinstated the case on 3rd December 2002.

In late November 2005 it was reported that Michael and Goss would, in the following year, register their relationship as a Civil Partnership in the UK.

In July 2006 Michael was photographed by UK tabloid newspaper News of the World reporters, emerging from the bushes on Hampstead Heath, apparently following a sexual tryst with Norman Kirtland, who they called a "pot-bellied, 58-year-old, jobless van driver."[1] Michael then hit back at the newspaper, by announcing that he was suing the photographers for harassment and possibly libel, and suing Kirtland himself. However, in a later interview on BBC News 24, he stated that he would not sue the newspaper. He also said in the same interview that cruising was defacto private because it was taking place at 2am . In a later interview with the Daily Mirror, he claimed that he had been cruising regularly for gay sex since his early teens, and that partner Kenny Goss had no problem with him having casual sex with other people . In a telephone interview with Richard and Judy, he said: " "We (Kenney Goss and Michael) had a lovely tenth anniversary party. My present to him was a million quid so I think I should get away with so-called fooling around with 'Bernard Manning'. I've no idea who that guy was but thank-you very much, whoever he was." .

Drugs

Michael has admitted to problems and depression, which he has tried to cope with by taking Prozac, smoking pot - and at one time buying a Labrador Retriever, that unfortunately died in the Thames.

During 2006, a series of incidents occurred which suggested he was still in turmoil. On 26 February, 2006, Michael was arrested for possession of Class C drugs, an incident that he described as "my own stupid fault, as usual." He was cautioned by the police and let go .

In the early hours of 1 October, 2006 Michael was found unconscious in his Mercedes-Benz S-Class car, causing an obstruction at the junction of Cricklewood Lane with Hendon Way, North West London. Police found Michael slumped in his seat in a semi-conscious state. He was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead for checks, and was then booked in at Colindale police station. He was later cautioned by the police for possession of cannabis, and was released on bail pending further inquiries on his fitness to drive

Relationship with fellow artists

During the early '80s singer Boy George was rather vocal in his dislike of George Michael, some of which is caught on video during the filming of the Band Aid collaboration. While recording harmonies, Boy George questioned the studio engineers whether one of the voices he heard on the vocal track was "Alf" [British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet, who did not participate in the charity single]. When the engineer identified the voice as that of Michael, Boy George replied, "God, he sounded camp. But then he is." The singer Morrissey has also been critical of Michael, stating that he is "not impressed".

In December 2004 Elton John stated in an interview that he believed George Michael should "get out more". As both John and Michael were openly gay and seemingly friends, many were surprised at the public spat. In an open letter response in "Heat" magazine, Michael claimed he and John were not good friends and that John had little knowledge of his personal life other than what he might glean from gossip, or the "gay grapevine", as Michael termed it.

In July 2005 it was reported that the two had ended their nine month feud over a dinner at Michael's North London home (apparently prepared by "celebrity chef" Gordon Ramsay). The two singers further agreed that John will re-release their 1991 duet "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" on a forthcoming album.

Politics

Michael has often taken a public socially-conscious, and sometimes political, stance. In 1984, he sang as part of Band Aid on the charity song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for famine relief in Ethiopia. This single held the number one position in the UK music charts over Christmas 1984, holding Michael's own song, "Last Christmas" by Wham!, at number two. Michael donated the royalties from "Last Christmas" to Band Aid and subsequently sang with Elton John at Live Aid (the Band Aid charity concert) in 1985.

In the 1980s, George Michael was very critical of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government and its cruise missile alliance with the USA. George said that he felt bad, since through his taxes he was paying for these weapons, yet was obliged to never dodge his tax obligations to his home country.

Trivia

• George Michael was one of several remixers commissioned to work on dance mixes for Bananarama's "Tripping on Your Love". Bananarama later covered "Careless Whisper" in 2000 and released it as a single (Keren Woodward of Bananarama is Andrew Ridgeley's partner).

Discography

For a detailed account of album and single releases, please see the George Michael discography.

See also

• WHAM!
• George Michael awards and nominations
• George Michael discography
• Best selling music artists - World's top selling music artists chart.
• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists by total number of USA number one singles
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

Press articles

• Revealing interview with George Michael from London Independent, in which he discusses his childhood, depression, sexuality and friendship with Diana
• "George Michael faces $10m lawsuit" - BBC News article, dated Tuesday, September 14, 1999
• "George Michael video case dismissed" - BBC News article, by Peter Bowes, dated Thursday, February 17, 2000
• "Officer allowed to sue Michael" - BBC News article, dated Wednesday, December 4, 2002
• There was so much death, December 9, 2005 Interview with The Guardian

External links

• Official George Michael Website
• The Official George Michael Forum
• George Michael Forums
• weblog about 25 Live tour
• GeorgeMichael.org
• George Michael, Foro de SuperFans en Español, Gira Europea 2006