An LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser, [230] [231] [232] the proceeds from the 1991 single " Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" were divided among 10 different charities for children, AIDS and education. He was also a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. [233] Michael wore a red ribbon at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium in April 1992. [234] [235] He was instrumental in bringing the compilation CD Red Hot + Dance to fruition, contributing three original songs, with the album featuring Seal and Madonna among others. [236] Michael formed the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. On the cusp of fame, he decided to legally change his name to the more accessible George Michael. [4] The band's first album Fantastic reached No. 1 in the UK in 1983 and produced a series of top 10 singles including " Young Guns", " Wham Rap!", and " Club Tropicana". Their second album, Make It Big, reached No. 1 on the charts in the US. Singles from that album included " Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (No. 1 in the UK and US), " Freedom", " Everything She Wants", and " Careless Whisper" which reached No. 1 in nearly 25 countries, including the UK and US, and was Michael's first solo effort as a single. [13] [14] In December 1984, the single " Last Christmas" was released. [38] In 1985 Michael received the first of his three Ivor Novello Awards for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. [39]

a b "George Michael's sister Melanie Panayiotou is found dead on Christmas Day aged 59". BBC News. 27 December 2019. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021 . Retrieved 14 October 2021. Michael, a Labour voter throughout the 1980s, distancing himself from Thatcher's Conservative Party. [217] In his personal life, Michael was in a 13-year relationship with Kenny Goss that ended in 2009. Michael began a relationship with celebrity hair stylist Fadi Fawaz that year until the pop icon's untimely death in 2016. At the time of his death, Michael was working on Freedom, a second documentary about his life, which was released in 2017. DeathGeorge 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.

The one thing they did take seriously was the music. Later, when Michael recorded Careless Whisper for their second album at the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama, he didn’t like it, and rerecorded it in London. “So we knew what we were doing [in terms of] writing and making records.” 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

Praise

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] 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]

Would being free to come out have made Michael happier? “I think he feels he would. He could have taken that decision to reveal his sexuality at any point, and he chose not to until it was thrust upon him, I think largely because he felt it was no one’s business but his own. He was intensely private, and I understand that fully, because I felt the same way, perhaps not quite as deeply as he did. He felt it compromised his ability to relax and be comfortable and content in his own life.” During the late 1980s, Michael had a relationship with make-up artist Kathy Jeung, who was regarded for a time as his artistic "muse" and who appeared in the " I Want Your Sex" video. [165] Michael later said that she had been his "only bona fide" girlfriend, and that she knew of his bisexuality. [160] In 2016, Jeung reacted to Michael's death by calling him a "true friend" with whom she had spent "some of the best time of [her] life". [166] During November 1994, after a long period of seclusion, Michael appeared at the first MTV Europe Music Awards show, where he gave a performance of a new song, " Jesus to a Child". [90] The song was a melancholy tribute to his lover, Anselmo Feleppa, who had died in March 1993. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 1 and No. 7 on Billboard upon release in 1996. [13] [14] It was Michael's longest UK Top 40 single, at almost seven minutes long. The exact identity of the song's subject—and the nature of Michael's relationship with Feleppa—was shrouded in innuendo and speculation, as Michael had not confirmed he was homosexual and did not do so until 1998. The video for "Jesus to a Child" was a picture of images recalling loss, pain and suffering. Michael consistently dedicated the song to Feleppa before performing it live. [91]

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The definitive biography of George Michael, offering an expansive look at the troubled life of the legendary singer, songwriter, and pop superstar.

Michael, Shirlie Holliman, Dee C Lee and Ridgeley during the recording of the Club Tropicana video in Ibiza in 1983. Photograph: FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty ImagesOverall I would say this is definitely interesting for fans of Michael, however the reader should take much of Gavin's writing with a pinch of salt. I would not recommend this to someone new to Michael, as it's both a slog and gives a very one-sided impression of a very complex character.