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George Michael

The English singer-songwriter and producer who left Wham! in 1986, made Faith, one of the best-selling albums of all time, then turned to quieter records and a long fight with his label.

Origin
East Finchley, London, England
Years active
1981-2016
Genres
pop, R&B, soul, funk
Labels
Epic, Columbia, Virgin, Aegean, DreamWorks, Sony Music
Also known as
Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou

Wham!

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou was born in East Finchley on 25 June 1963. At Bushey Meads School he befriended Andrew Ridgeley, and in 1981 the two formed the duo Wham!. He changed his name to George Michael. Wham!'s first album, Fantastic, reached number one in the UK in 1983, and their second, Make It Big, reached number one in the US. Michael wrote Careless Whisper at 17, on a bus, and in 1984 it came out under his own name in most territories and went to number one in the UK and US.

In April 1985 Wham! made the first visit to China by a Western pop act, and that July he sang Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me with Elton John at Live Aid at Wembley. The duo split in 1986 after a farewell single, The Edge of Heaven, and a concert at Wembley Stadium.

Faith

In January 1987 he released I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), a duet with Aretha Franklin that reached number one in the UK and US. His first solo album, Faith, followed on 30 October 1987. Michael wrote and produced every track except Look at Your Hands, which he co-wrote with David Austin, and played many of the instruments himself. It took more than a year to make, at Sarm West in London and Puk Studios in Denmark. He said he wanted to make music as good as Michael Jackson's and Prince's.

The album went to number one in the UK and US, spent 12 weeks on top of the Billboard 200 and produced four American number ones: Faith, Father Figure, One More Try and Monkey. It was the best-selling album of 1988 in the US, has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and won Album of the Year at the 31st Grammy Awards in February 1989. The Faith Tour opened at Tokyo's Budokan in February 1988 and moved on to Australia, Europe and North America.

Listen Without Prejudice

Michael later said the Faith campaign left him exhausted, lonely and frustrated, and in 1990 he told Sony he would not promote his next album in the same way. Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, released on 3 September 1990, was largely acoustic and more sombre. It reached number one in the UK and number two in the US. He refused to appear in the videos for its singles. Praying for Time went to number one in the US, his last solo number one there, and the video for Freedom! '90, directed by David Fincher, put five supermodels in his place and destroyed the jacket, jukebox and guitar from the Faith video.

Disappointing US sales led to a legal battle in which Michael accused Sony of not fully supporting him as an artist. He lost, and the planned Vol. 2 was scrapped. In 1991 a live duet of Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me with Elton John, recorded at Wembley Arena, reached number one in the UK and US. On 20 April 1992 he sang Somebody to Love at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium.

Older and after

In 1995 his contract was sold from Sony to Virgin and DreamWorks. Jesus to a Child, a tribute to Anselmo Feleppa, who had died in 1993, entered the UK chart at number one in January 1996. Older followed in May, his first studio album in more than five years. Fastlove also topped the UK chart, and all six singles from Older reached the British top three, a record for one album. The compilation Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael spent eight weeks at number one in the UK from November 1998. That year Michael came out as gay.

He re-signed with Sony in November 2003, and Patience, his fifth and final solo studio album, reached number one in the UK in 2004. The 25 Live tour, his first in 15 years, ran from 2006 to 2008, and his last concert was at Earls Court in London on 17 October 2012. He died at his home in Goring-on-Thames on 25 December 2016, aged 53. A coroner in Oxfordshire attributed his death to natural causes. In November 2023 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Andrew Ridgeley as his presenter.

Records

Songs

Wham!, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Prince, Michael Jackson

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Writing and criticism

Sources

  1. George Michael, Wikipedia
  2. Careless Whisper, Wikipedia
  3. George Michael, The Official Website, George Michael
  4. George Michael, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
  5. Long lost George Michael film and live album set for release later this year, The Guardian (2026-03-10)
  6. Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, Pitchfork (2017-10-26)