George Michael
- This article is about the musician. For other uses, see George Michael (disambiguation).
George Michael (born June 25, 1963) is an English-Cypriot pop singer/songwriter.
Wham!
Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in East Finchley, London, to a Cypriot father and an English mother, Michael began his career by forming a band called The Executive together with his best friend Andrew Ridgeley, who both attended Bushey Meads School, though it did not survive for long.
It wasn't until he formed the duo Wham! together again with Ridgeley in 1981 that the success came for the band. Their first album, Fantastic!, was an instant success, and within a year they had released their classic debut single, Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do), while 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.
With the success of his solo releases Careless Whisper (1984) and A Different Corner (1986) stories of an impending Wham! split intensified, and Wham! duly separated in the summer of 1986 after a farewell single, The Edge Of Heaven and album, plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium.
Solo career
Some of his biggest hit singles as a solo artist include the single "Faith" (taken from his debut album Faith that not only became number one on both sides of the Atlantic but also resulted in stunning four number one singles in America) and many more.
"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", "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 "Shoot the Dog".
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.
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 thru Polydor Records. Patience debuted at number one on the UK album charts and number two in Australia.
During the 2005 event Live 8, George Michael joined Paul McCartney on stage, harmonising 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's writing and recording music at home and hinted that he may in fact tour in 2006. He 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.
Publicity & Notoriety
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.
Michael is also well known for his April 7 1998, arrest for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public restroom in a Beverly Hills city park. He was arrested by an undercover Beverly Hills police officer 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!'" [1]
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.
Soon afterwards, Michael made a video for his single "Outside" which was clearly based on the public restroom 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 filed a ten million dollar lawsuit in California against the singer. The court dismissed the case on the grounds related to the officer's status as a kind of public official, but an appeals court reinstated the case on December 3 2002.
Michael has often taken a public 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 postition 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 Air 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 United States. 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.
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 had performed together on several occasions, 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 an upcoming album.
This was not the first time that George had a negative comradery with fellow gay 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 Live Aid collaboration. At one moment when singer Alison Moyet hits a high note, Boy George sarcastically says that it must be George Michael singing as the note hit was so "camp". The singer Morrissey has also been critical of Michael, stating that he is "not impressed".
In late November, 2005 it was reported that Michael would wed Kenny Goss, his partner for nearly a decade, early in the following year in the UK (making it, technically, a "civil partnership"). However, in an interview with The Sun newspaper, he declared that he had no intention of marrying Kenny Goss. He also said that he would attend Elton John and partner David Furnish's civil partnership ceremony.
Future career
George Michael announced that Patience will be the last record on sale to the public. He told BBC Radio 1 on March 10 2004 that future music that he puts out will be available for download with fans encouraged to make a donation to charity. He said: "I've been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don't need the public's money. I'd like to have something on the Internet which is a charitable download site where anyone can download my music for free. I'll have my favourite charities up there and people will hopefully donate to that."
He states that the decision will put less pressure to produce a new album every so often and allow him to have more of a private life with his partner Kenny Goss.
George Michael ranks as Britain's tenth richest musician with an amassed personal fortune said to be between at £65 million to over £100 million in assets, real estate and currency. Michael owns several homes all over the world, including one in London, one in Dallas, Texas, and one in Goring on Thames.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | UK | US | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Fantastic | 1 | 83 | Wham! album, released in the U.S. with the moniker "Wham! UK" |
| 1984 | Make It Big | 1 | 1 | Wham! album |
| 1986 | Music From The Edge of Heaven | - | 10 | Wham! album |
| 1986 | The Final | 2 | - | Wham! compilation album |
| 1987 | Faith | 1 | 1 | approximate worldwide sales: 20 million |
| 1990 | Listen without Prejudice, Vol. 1 | 1 | 2 | approximate worldwide sales: 10 million |
| 1992 | Five Live (EP) | 1 | 46 | live recording with Queen and Lisa Stansfield, approximate worldwide sales: 5 million |
| 1996 | Older | 1 | 6 | approximate worldwide sales: 6 million |
| 1997 | If You Were There (The Best of Wham) | 4 | - | Wham! compilation album |
| 1998 | Ladies & Gentlemen (The Best Of George Michael) | 1 | 24 | greatest solo hits compilation double album, tracklists vary slightly between the U.S. and U.K. versions, approximate worldwide sales 10 million |
| 1999 | Songs from the Last Century | 2 | 157 | - |
| 2004 | Patience | 1 | 12 | approximate worldwide sales 3 million |
Singles
| Year | Song | UK | US | US Dance | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "Young Guns (Go For It)" | 3 | - | 21 | Fantastic |
| 1983 | "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" | 8 | - | - | Fantastic |
| 1983 | "Bad Boys" | 2 | 60 | 28 | Fantastic |
| 1983 | "Club Tropicana" | 4 | - | - | Fantastic |
| 1983 | "Club Fantastic Megamix" | 15 | - | - | non-album single |
| 1984 | "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" | 1 | 1 | 27 | Make It Big |
| 1984 | "Careless Whisper" | 1 | 1 | - | Make It Big |
| 1984 | "Freedom" | 1 | 3 | - | Make It Big |
| 1984 | "Everything She Wants" | 2 | 1 | 7 | Make It Big |
| 1984 | "Last Christmas" | 2 | - | - | UK double A-side with above title |
| 1985 | "I'm Your Man" | 1 | 3 | 42 | The Final / Music From the Edge Of Heaven |
| 1985 | "Last Christmas" (UK re-issue) | 6 | - | - | The Final / Music From the Edge Of Heaven |
| 1986 | "The Edge Of Heaven" | 1 | 10 | - | The Final / Music From the Edge Of Heaven |
| 1986 | "Where Did Your Heart Go?" | 1 | 50 | - | The FInal / Music From the Edge Of Heaven, released in UK as double A-side with above title |
| 1986 | "A Different Corner" | 1 | 7 | - | The Final / Music From the Edge Of Heaven |
| 1986 | "Last Christmas" (UK re-issue) | 45 | - | - | The Final / Music From the Edge Of Heaven |
| 1987 | "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (with Aretha Franklin) | 1 | 1 | 12 | Aretha (Aretha Franklin album) |
| 1987 | "I Want Your Sex" | 3 | 2 | 2 | Faith |
| 1987 | "Hard Day" | - | - | 5 | Faith |
| 1987 | "Faith" | 2 | 1 | 17 | Faith |
| 1988 | "Father Figure" | 11 | 1 | 13 | Faith |
| 1988 | "One More Try" | 8 | 1 | - | Faith |
| 1988 | "Monkey" | 13 | 1 | 1 | Faith |
| 1988 | "Kissing a Fool" | 18 | 5 | - | Faith |
| 1990 | "Praying For Time" | 6 | 1 | - | Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 |
| 1990 | "Waiting For That Day" | 23 | 27 | - | Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 |
| 1990 | "Mother's Pride" | - | 46 | - | Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 |
| 1990 | "Freedom! '90" | 28 | 8 | 16 | Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 |
| 1991 | "Heal The Pain" | 31 | - | - | Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 |
| 1991 | "Cowboys And Angels" | 45 | - | - | Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 |
| 1991 | "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" (with Elton John) | 1 | 1 | - | live recording, Love Songs (Elton John album) |
| 1992 | "Too Funky" | 4 | 10 | 20 | Red Hot + Dance |
| 1993 | Five Live EP | 1 | - | - | |
| 1993 | "Somebody to Love" (with Queen) | 1 | 30 | - | Five Live EP |
| 1993 | "Killer" / "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" | - | 69 | 5 | Five Live EP |
| 1996 | "Jesus To A Child" | 1 | 7 | - | Older |
| 1996 | "Fastlove" | 1 | 8 | - | Older |
| 1996 | "Spinning the Wheel" | 2 | - | 44 | Older |
| 1997 | "Older" / "I Can't Make You Love Me" | 3 | - | - | Older |
| 1997 | "Star People '97" | 2 | - | 1 | Older |
| 1997 | "You Have Been Loved" / "The Strangest Thing '97" | 2 | - | - | Older |
| 1998 | "Outside" | 2 | - | 3 | Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael |
| 1999 | "As" (with Mary J. Blige) | 4 | - | - | Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael |
| 1999 | "If I Told You That" (with Whitney Houston) | 9 | - | - | Greatest Hits (Whitney Houston album) |
| 2002 | "Freeek!" | 7 | - | - | Patience |
| 2002 | "Shoot the Dog" | 12 | - | - | Patience |
| 2004 | "Amazing" | 4 | - | 1 | Patience |
| 2004 | "Flawless (Go to the City)" | 8 | - | 1 | Patience |
| 2004 | "Round Here" | 32 | - | - | Patience |
| 2005 | "John & Elvis"(digital single) | - | - | - | Patience |
Singles (guest appearances)
| Year | Song | UK | US | US Dance | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | "Nikita" (Elton John single, George Michael backing vocals) | 3 | 7 | Ice On Fire (Elton John album) | |
| 1985 | "Wrap Her Up" (Elton John single, featuring George Michael) | 12 | 20 | Ice On Fire (Elton John album) | |
| 1985 | "The Last Kiss" (David Cassidy single, George Michael backing vocals) | 6 | Romance (David Cassidy album) | ||
| 1987 | "Jive Talkin'" (Boogie Box High single) | 7 | |||
| 1990 | "Shake" (Andrew Ridgeley single) | Son of Albert (Andrew Ridgeley album) | |||
| 1990 | "Heaven Help Me" (Deon Estus single, featuring George Michael) | Spell (Deon Estus album) | |||
| 1995 | "I'm Your Man" (Lisa Moorish single) | ||||
| 1997 | "Waltz Away Dreaming" (Toby Bourke single, featuring George Michael) | 10 | - | - | non-album single |
See also
- 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 (US)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
External links
- Official website
- Official Chat Room
- Yours Only George - Your Link to the George Michael World
- George Michael Info Net
- Planet George - George Michael Fanclub
- Planet George Message Boards
- George Michael Forums
- Foro de Super Fans de George Michael en Español
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