English singer-songwriter and record producer George Michael was born as Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on 25th June 1963 in East Finchley, and passed away on Christmas Day of 2016.
In his teens, George used to perform on the streets of the London Underground and also worked as a DJ in schools and clubs. At school he met Andrew Ridgeley, with whom he formed the duo ‘Wham!’ in 1981.
Their first two albums were extremely successful and included numerous hits like ‘Young Guns’, ‘Wham Rap’, ‘Club Tropicana’, ‘Freedom’ and ‘Wake me up before you Go Go’, amongst others. George’s solo single ‘Careless Whisper’ was a number one hit in about 25 countries worldwide. The hit ‘Last Christmas’ followed in December 1984. At that same time, Michael also contributed with several other artists to the song for charity, UK number one hit ‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’.
In 1986, George had another successful song ‘A Different Corner’. Added up to his earlier solo hit ‘Careless Whisper’, it was rumoured that the duo were splitting up and in fact released their last song ‘Edge of Heaven’ that same year. Matter of factly, George’s solo career took off in 1987.
He recorded the song ‘I knew you were Waiting (for Me) with one of his favourite artists Aretha Franklin, which was also a number one hit. Later that year, his first solo album came out, including the song ‘I want your Sex’ which although was initially banned by numerous UK & US radio stations, still reached number 2 in US and number 3 in the UK. This was followed by yet another number one hit ‘Faith’.
In 1998, Michael announced that he was gay. He also had trouble with the law due to drug abuse. George even recovered from a coma in 2011 caused by pneumonia.
Michael was an active philanthropist, especially where it concerned LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS, children and cancer research. After his death, numerous charities revealed that he had donated ‘millions’ to their organisations.
During his 35-year career, both as a solo and with ‘Wham!’, George had 25 albums, 62 singles and 44 music videos. He also achieved no less than 56 awards including 5 Brit, 4 MTV Music as well as Grammy & American Music and in 2023 was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His records sold between 100 and 125 million records all over the world, rendering him as one of the best-selling artists ever.
George died on 25th December 2016 from a heart condition.
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