George Michael

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

George Michael
George Michael at a concert in Munich
Background information
Birth name	Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou
Also known as	George Michael
Born	June 25, 1963 (age 43)
Origin	Bushey, Hertfordshire, England
Genre(s)	Pop Pop rock Blue-eyed soul
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, multiple instruments
Years active	1982 - present
Label(s)	Columbia Records, DreamWorks, Virgin, Epic, Sony Music
Associated acts	WHAM!
Website	http://www.georgemichael.com

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (Greek: Γιώργος-Κυριάκος Παναγιώτου), better known as George Michael (born on June 25, 1963) is an English ^[1] singer-songwriter and pop star who performs soul influenced pop, and who (as a solo artist and half of the duo WHAM!) has enjoyed global success since 1982. His biggest commercial success to date was in 1987 with his debut solo album "Faith" which sold 14 million copies on release and to date has crossed well over the 20 million mark worldwide. He has sold 85 million singles and albums worldwide.^[2]

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Discography
5 See also
6 Press articles
7 Footnotes
8 External links

[edit] Early life

Michael was born in East Finchley, North London. His father was Kyriacos Panayiotou, a Greek-Cypriot restaurant manager who moved to England in the 1950s and changed his name to "Jack Panos".^[3] Michael's maternal grandfather was from a poor working-class English family and his maternal grandmother was from a wealthy Jewish family.^[4] Their daughter was Michael's beloved mother, Lesley Angold Harrison, a former dancer who died of cancer in 1997.^[5] He spent the majority of his childhood in North London living in the home his parents bought shortly after his birth. He began his career by forming a short-lived band called The Executive with his best friends Andrew Ridgeley, Paul Ridgeley, Andrew Leaver and David Mortimer (aka David Austin). George attended Kingsbury High School, briefly in 1974, as did his sisters.

[edit] Career

[edit] WHAM!

George Michael on Stage.

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. In addition, he added background vocals to David Cassidy's 1985 hit "The Last Kiss," as well as Elton John's 1985 hits "Nikita" and "Wrap Her Up."

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 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 Michael's ever-widening fame.

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", an album, plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium that included the world premiere of the China film.

[edit] Solo career

His biggest hit singles as a solo artist include the single "Faith," taken from his debut album of the same name. The album not only became number one on both sides of the Atlantic, but also resulted in four number one singles in the United States. In 1989 he sang backing vocals for his long-time friend Deon Estus on a song titled "Heaven Help Me". The song was written by both artists, and just missed reaching the British top 40, reaching #5 in the U.S.

"Careless Whisper", written when Michael was seventeen, became one of the most played songs of the decade and was voted favourite record of all time by Londoners in January 1995 in a competition run by the capital's leading evening newspaper and radio station. He was also voted Best Male Singer that year by the same radio station's listeners and by the readers of a national newspaper. Some of his other hit singles 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'. In 1992 at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert Michael stole the show by delivering a brilliant performance of Somebody to Love sparking speculation of him joining Queen, although the performance of the song was released on the Five Live EP, a union with Queen never materialised.

Michael's 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 record sales, according to his official website.

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. It has sold moderately globally with 3 million.

During the 2005 event Live 8, George Michael joined Paul McCartney on stage, harmonizing on the Beatles' classic "Drive My Car". Michael did not perform a separate set himself because of a head cold.

Michael was one of several remixers commissioned in 2000 to work on dance mixes for Bananarama's "Tripping on Your Love". Bananarama later covered "Careless Whisper" and released it as a single.

Michael has released his latest single, a duet single with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "This Is Not Real Love", on 6 November 2006. It peaked at #15 in the UK Charts.

Michael received $3 (£1.5) million for a 1-hour concert in Moscow for the 300 guests of Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin for a concert on the Eve of 2007 - some equipment was damaged in a fire caused “by badly wired pyrotechnics that went off a few hours after George Michael's band and crew had left”. This payment is reputed to have made him the highest paid act in Russian history overtaking the £1 million paid to Christina Aguilera for performing at the wedding of Russian oligarch Andrei Melnichenko in 2005. The gig performed by George Michael prior to this highly profitable Moscow event was a free gig for nurses in north London.

[edit] 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 23 September 2006, and ending up at Wembley Arena in London in December. On March 5, 2007, George Michael announced a summer 2007 stadium tour through Europe, starting May 18 in Denmark.

He also confirmed his intention to form a civil partnership with long-time partner Kenny Goss. He told Parkinson they would perform the legal ceremony and then hold 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, was released on 9 November 2006, including four new songs. The lead single, "An Easier Affair", debuted on radio on 24 May 2006, and was released by Sony BMG as a download on 19 June and as a CD release a week later. This new single hit #1 in the UK dance charts and reached #13 in the UK singles chart upon physical release (download entered the charts at #74). 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", a double disc which went double platinum in the US.

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

[edit] Personal life

[edit] Sexual orientation

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

These persisted into his solo career, but Michael had already established a relationship with a male Brazilian dress designer, Anselmo Feleppa, whom he had met at the 1991 concert "Rock in Rio". Michael and Feleppa enjoyed a loving relationship, but after two years Feleppa died of a brain haemorrhage in 1993. Michael's single "Jesus To A Child" is a direct tribute to Feleppa (he consistently dedicates it to him before performing it live), as is his 1996 album "Older."

Questions of his sexual orientation persisted in public, until 7 April 1998, when he was arrested for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet in a park in Beverly Hills, California. 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!'"^[6]

After pleading "no contest" to the charge, Michael was fined $810 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. 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 $10 million court case in California against the singer who has amassed an estimated personal fortune of 70 million pounds ($120 million).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 3 December 2002.^[7]

After that incident he became open about his homosexuality and became public about his relationship with Kenny Goss; a former cheerleader coach^[8] and later sports clothing executive, originally from Dallas, Texas;^[9] his partner to this date. Goss opened the Goss Gallery in May 2005 in Dallas, which shows contemporary works of art including those collected by the couple. They have homes in London and Dallas.^[10] In late November 2005 it was reported that Michael and Goss would register their relationship as a civil partnership in the UK^[11] - but due to negative publicity and his upcoming tour, Goss and Michael have postponed it to a later date.^[12]

[edit] Drugs

Michael has admitted to problems with depression, which he has tried to cope with by taking Prozac, smoking cannabis, and at one time buying a Labrador Retriever, which 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 released.^[13]^[14]

On 15 May 2006, Michael was found slumped over the wheel of his Range Rover, photographed apparently snoozing at traffic lights in London. He awoke after a member of the public knocked on his window for five minutes "sweating heavily and had his iPod on". He drove off weaving up the road, and then hit a traffic bollard. Later the same month, he was questioned by police after shunting three cars in the street in which he lives.^[15]

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, in northwest 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.^[16]^[17]

Michael's long term partner Kenny Goss has also been treated for dependence on prescription sleeping medication, checking into an Arizona-based clinic for two months in June 2004 after encouragement from Michael.^[18]

[edit] Relationship with fellow artists

During the early '80s, singer Boy George was rather vocal in his dislike of Michael, some of which is caught on video during the filming of the Band Aid collaboration. While recording harmonies, Boy George openly confused Michael's recorded vocals with the voice of "Alf" (British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet, who did not participate in the charity single). When the engineer correctly 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", despite the negatives, his close friend Hazel O'Connor has remained a close friend.

In December 2004, Elton John stated in an interview that he believed 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

[edit] 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 #1 position in the UK music charts over Christmas 1984, holding Michael's own song, "Last Christmas" by Wham!, at #2. 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 during his years with WHAM George Michael was very critical of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government and its cruise missile alliance with the U.S. 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.

Michael also wrote "Shoot the Dog," a critical song about the friendly relationship between the governments of the U.S. and the UK towards the Iraqi War. In the animated music video for the song, Tony Blair is depicted as the "dog" that follows his "owner" (George W. Bush) everywhere. In George's latest tour, an inflatable British Bull Dog - doll is seen fellating on Bush on stage.

[edit] Discography

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

[edit] See also

[edit] 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
Singer Michael says cannabis keeps him sane, October 21, 2006, Reuters

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

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