He was the ’80s poster boy that girls raved about while hiding his homosexuality. Then George Michael reinvented himself. However, the great successes were offset by private tragedies.
At Christmas, George Michael is back in everyone’s ears with one of his absolute cult songs. “Last Christmas”, his hit single from Wham! Times, is one of the long-running hits on the radio and in the playlists of streaming services every December.
On Thursday, “Last Christmas” even made it to the top of the German single charts for the first time 37 years after its publication.
For fans of the British pop star, the song has something bittersweet. Because Christmas Day marks the fifth anniversary of George Michael’s death.
The news of his death not only shocked the music industry. At the age of just 53, Michael had died of natural causes, according to coroners. His partner Fadi Fawaz found him lifeless in bed on December 25, 2016. Michael suffered from heart disease and a fatty liver. Occasionally there was also talk of drug problems. In pictures taken shortly before his death, the pop star looked bloated and overweight.
Gifted singer, fantastic voice
But George Michael, who was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963, will be remembered as a handsome poster boy of the 80s, as a brilliant songwriter, romantic and pop poet, as a versatile musician who kept reinventing himself – and above all as gifted singer with a fantastic voice. The blind soul icon Stevie Wonder joked about him: “Are you saying that George is white, seriously? Oh my God!”
George Michael stands for many immortal pop classics, especially from the 80s and 90s – together with Andrew Ridgeley as Wham! (“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, “Careless Whisper”), as a solo artist (“Faith”, “I Want Your Sex”) and in a duet with superstars like Aretha Franklin (“I Knew You Were Waiting For Me”) ) or his buddy Elton John (“Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”).
He gave his most famous live appearance with the band Queen after the death of Freddie Mercury at the benefit concert at Wembley Stadium. The rousing recording “Somebody To Love” even became a single. Vocally, George Michael was in a league with Mercury, but arguably he didn’t handle the fame as well as the Queen frontman.
In the autobiographical documentary “George Michael: Freedom”, which he shot until shortly before his death, but which was only finished posthumously, the singer says: “I hope people see me as someone who had a certain integrity, and I hope that you will remember me like this. ” But in the postscript he expresses doubts. «But that is very unlikely. I think it was all a waste of time, a wasted effort. “
Heavy blows of fate
George Michael, who family and friends mostly called Yog, suffered from depression. He had to endure many strokes of fate. In 1993, his partner Anselmo Feleppa died at 37 of complications from AIDS. When Michael sang at the Freddie Mercury Tribute, he already knew what was in store for Feleppa. He never recovered from the loss, says Michael in his film. His mother’s death from cancer in 1997 also hit him hard.
On top of that, he suffered serious professional defeat in the 1990s when he lost the lawsuit against his record company Sony. He had wanted to abandon his image as a sex symbol. He neither wanted to appear on the cover of his second solo album, “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1”, released in 1990, nor did he want to appear in front of the camera for music videos. He accused Sony of not having marketed his album well as a punishment. The judges saw it differently and confirmed the record deal, which the singer had described as “professional slavery”.
George Michael’s tumultuous decade culminated in his somewhat involuntary coming-out in 1998 after the police arrested him in a public toilet in Beverly Hills for “immoral behavior”. He then gave an interview to CNN. “I don’t think I have to tell,” said Michael. “But I have no problem with people knowing that I’m in a relationship with a man.”
The incident with the police, which was gleefully exploited by the tabloid media, the singer processed satirically in his music video for the single “Outside”. That he laughed about it in private is doubtful, especially since he had hidden his homosexuality for so long. He had his first gay relationship when he was 27, according to Michael.
Michael envied his former Wham! Colleague Andrew Ridgeley, with whom he remained lifelong friends, because he largely disappeared from the public eye and was able to lead a relaxed life. However, Michael made the headlines himself – he drove under the influence of drugs, fell asleep at the wheel and once even fell out of a moving car. The music inevitably took a back seat. In 2011 pneumonia almost killed him.
social commitment
The fact that George Michael only wanted to be respected for his music is shown in some ways by his commitment to charity. That was only known when the recipients went public after Michael’s death. The singer had anonymously donated millions, including to a child protection organization, and even personally helped out in a homeless shelter.
The popularity of George Michaelsund his music is five years after his death and nearly 40 years after the goofy debut single “Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do) »unbroken. “Careless Whisper”, “Faith” or “Freedom! ’90 »are immortal pop classics. And of course “Last Christmas” made it into the top ten of the British and German charts again this year at Christmas time.