Back George Michael Afrikaans George Michael AN جورج مايكل Arabic جورج مايكل ARZ George Michael AST Corc Maykl Azerbaijani جرج مایکل AZB Džuordžos Maiklos BAT-SMG Джордж Майкл Byelorussian Джордж Майкл BE-X-OLD

George Michael

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

George Michael
Michael performing in Houston, 1988
Born
Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou

(1963-06-25)25 June 1963
East Finchley, Middlesex, England
Died25 December 2016(2016-12-25) (aged 53)
Goring-on-Thames, England
Resting placeHighgate Cemetery West, London
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Years active1981–2016
Partners
  • Anselmo Feleppa (1991–1993)
  • Kenny Goss (1996–2009)
  • Fadi Fawaz (2012–2016)
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • keyboards
Labels
Formerly of
George Michael's voice
from the BBC programme Desert Island Discs, 5 October 2007.[1]
Websitegeorgemichael.com
Signature

George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon,[2] he was known as a creative force in songwriting,[3] vocal performance,[4] and visual presentation.[5][6]

Born in East Finchley, Middlesex, Michael rose to fame after forming the pop duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. He took part in Band Aid's UK number-one single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984 and performed at the following year's Live Aid concert. His debut studio album, Faith (1987), won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Michael then went on to release a series of multimillion-selling albums, including Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990), Older (1996), Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael (1998), Songs from the Last Century (1999), Patience (2004), and Twenty Five (2006). His most successful singles include "Careless Whisper", "A Different Corner", "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)", "Faith", "Father Figure", "One More Try", "Monkey", "Praying for Time", "Freedom! '90", "Jesus to a Child", "Fastlove", "Outside", "Amazing", and "An Easier Affair".

Michael came out as gay in 1998, and was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. His personal life, drug use, and legal troubles made headlines following an arrest for public lewdness in 1998 and multiple drug-related offences. The 2005 documentary A Different Story covered his career and personal life. His 25 Live tour spanned three tours from 2006 to 2008. In 2011 Michael fell into a coma during a bout with pneumonia, but recovered. He performed his final concert at London's Earls Court in 2012. Michael died of heart disease on Christmas Day in 2016, at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

Michael is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time,[7] scoring 10 number-one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100 and 13 number-one songs on the UK singles chart. He won numerous music awards, including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards. He was listed among Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Singers of All Time and Billboard's Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time. The Radio Academy named him the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004.[8] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.[9]

  1. ^ "George Michael". Desert Island Discs. 5 October 2007. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. ^ "George Michael: Chart topper and cultural icon dead at 53". CNN. 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rubiner was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "The 20 best male singers of all time, ranked in order of pure vocal ability". Smooth Radio. 9 April 2020. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. ^ "George Michael's Style: Remembering His Top 5 Iconic Looks". Billboard. 27 December 2016. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Pop icon George Michael was a music video master". Mashable. 25 December 2016. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Troubled personal life of pop superstar George Michael". Sky News. 27 December 2016. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  8. ^ "George Michael dominates airwaves" Archived 19 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine. BBC. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  9. ^ "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2023 Inductees". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia

Developed by Nelliwinne