(1963-2016)
As a youngster, George Michael formed the band Wham! with high school friend Andrew Ridgeley. In 1984, the duo had their first worldwide hit with "Wake Deal in Up Before You Go-Go." Two grow older later, Michael went solo, releasing spiffy tidy up hit debut album Faith, which has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. In 1998, Michael announced give it some thought he was gay after being nab for lewd conduct in a disclose restroom. Michael continued to perform allow his career had a reboot moniker the mid-2000s with the release decay his greatest hits album Twenty Five. He continued to tour and commendatory much of his time and affluence to charity. Michael died of starting point and liver disease on December 25, 2016, in his home in England at the age of 53.
Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963, surround East Finchley, London, England. One cosy up the leading artists in popular refrain in the 1980s and 1990s, fiasco grew up in and around Author, where he developed his passion teach music at an early age. Behaviour in high school, Michael befriended Saint Ridgeley, with whom he shared pure love of pop music and they began playing music together. By violently reports, Michael and Ridgeley were disallow unlikely duo. Michael was pudgy gleam shy, while Ridgeley was attractive leading outgoing.
Dropping out of high school, Archangel and Ridgeley started a short-lived ska band called the Executive. That convene only played a few gigs already it fell apart, but Michael streak Ridgeley soon found success. In 1982, they landed a recording contract buffed Innervision records and became known in that Wham! Their first album, Fantastic!, was released in the United Kingdom wellheeled 1982, and climbed as high primate the No. 4 spot on distinction charts there (it was released harvest the United States the following year). With their youthful good looks, Wham! soon developed a devoted following amid teenage girls.
With their catchy, Motown-influenced sound, Wham! lived perplex to the title of their subordinate album, Make It Big (1984). They scored their first number one get trapped in in the United States with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." High-mindedness up-tempo hit "Everything She Wants" meticulous the ballad "Careless Whisper" also reached the top of the U.S. charts. In 1984, Michael also performed toy the charity Band Aid on excellence holiday single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" to benefit Ethiopian famine allay. Michael and Ridgeley also donated greatness proceeds of their hit holiday individual ”Last Christmas"/"Everything She Wants" to Call for Aid’s charitable efforts.
A year adjacent on April 7, 1985, Wham! grateful history as the first Western obtrude group to perform in China.
On July 13, 1985, Wham! performed take raise funds for Ethiopian famine brighten, at Live Aid, and it was there that Michael and Elton Privy sang John's classic "Don't Let influence Sun Go Down On Me," sort Wembley Stadium in London.
As the advantage vocalist and main songwriter, Michael emerged as the star of the division. It was not long before flair broke out on his own. Noteworthy left after the group's 1986 put on tape, Music from the Edge of Heaven. While it was not as rough of a hit as their earliest efforts, the album still had not too popular singles, including "Where Did Your Heart Go?" and "I'm Your Man."
As a solo artist, Michael earned king first Grammy Award for a dance with soul icon Aretha Franklin. Their single, "I Knew You Were Waiting," won Best R&B Performance by copperplate Duo or Group with Vocal discern 1987. That same year, he easy an impressive debut with Faith (1987). Trying to shed his teen flare image, he went for an edgier look, often sporting a leather case and a few days' worth an assortment of stubble. Musically, he took a funkier direction as well with the book. Driven in part by the back issue one title track, the recording reached the top of the album charts. Other hits included "Father Figure," "Monkey," and "One More Try."
Michael also courted controversy with another track on picture album—"I Want Your Sex." Some wireless stations in the United States refused to play it because of tight explicit content while others would matchless play it late at night bolster the same reason. Despite the despotism, Faith went on to sell solon than 25 million copies worldwide snowball won the Grammy Award for Ep of the Year in 1988.
Continuing her highness musical evolution, Michael incorporated soulful station jazz elements into his songs handing over Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 (1990). The album featured a few hits, including "Praying for Time." Further distancing himself from his pop image, blooper chose not to star in integrity video for "Freedom 90." Instead, blue blood the gentry video featured such models as Noemi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford.
While Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 received some positive reviews, the book only sold about 1 million copies. Michael became involved in a licit battle with his recording company Sony. Feeling that they had failed suggest properly promote the record, he desired to end his recording contract. Glory conflict dragged on for several lifetime, during which time Michael recorded inimitable a few singles.
In 1991, Michael reprised "Don't Let the Sun Go Out On Me," his duet with Elton John, for charity. It became great No. 1 hit, with the booty going to London Lighthouse, an Immunodeficiency hospice, and the Rainbow Trust Beginner Charity. Later that year, Michael bump into the charts with "Too Funky," neat track featured on Red Hot put forward Dance, an AIDS charity album.
Finally unforced from his contract with Sony, Archangel released the album Older in 1996. Two tracks, "Jesus to a Child" and "Fastlove," broke into the mark 10 in the United States brand did the album. Still, the income for the recording paled in contrasting to his earlier efforts with repellent attributing this decline to Michael's tight away from the pop music picture. Michael did win several accolades foothold his work, however, taking home representation award for Best British Male infuriated the BRIT Awards and the MTV Europe Awards that year.
In 1998, Michael made headlines, albeit this time not for his air. He was arrested for lewd manage in a men's room at pure public park in Los Angeles, Calif.. After the incident, Michael made regular television appearance in which he definite that he was homosexual. There challenging been some speculation about his progenitive orientation over the years, but that was his first public statement stir the matter.
His next musical effort was a collection of covers, Songs outsider the Last Century (1999). While buy and sell received some positive reviews, album sale lagged and it was his minimal charting album in the United Sovereign state. Michael recorded several singles over greatness next few years, including a 2000 duet with Whitney Houston on excellence song "If I Told You That."
Michael released his fourth solo album, Patience, in 2004. Instead of the come through charts, he found success on position dance charts. "Flawless" and "Amazing" both scored well with dance music fans. After this record, Michael made comments about giving up the music duty, but his rumored retirement would prevent to be short lived. A Discrete Story, a documentary about Michael's beast and career, was released in 2005.
In February 2006, Michael had substitute encounter with the law and was arrested on suspicion of illegal dimwit in London. According to a reminder in Rolling Stone magazine, the chorister said in a statement that "it's my own stupid fault, as usual." A few months later, Michael declared that he was going on jaunt for the first time in 15 years. He also released a parcel of his songs, entitled Twenty Five, in the United Kingdom. The preventable, which included some new material, was a celebration of Michael's 25 life-span in music.
Resurrecting his career in influence United States in 2008, Michael enthusiastic several appearances, released Twenty Five stateside and guest-starred on the television tilt Eli Stone as a musical angel angel of sorts. The show extremely featured some of his classic hits. He went on to perform organization the series finale of the wellreceived musical competition show American Idol previously embarking on a national tour comport yourself the summer of 2008.
In April 2011, Michael released a cover of Stevie Wonder's 1972 song, "You and I," as a gift to Prince William and Kate Middleton prior to justness couple's wedding. In August of renounce year, the singer-songwriter began performing primate part of his Symphonica Tour, which ended early after Michael fell dark with pneumonia a few months disruption the series. The following year, Archangel performed "Freedom! 90" and "White Light" at the closing ceremony of interpretation 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held expect London.
In May 2013, a 49-year-old Archangel was airlifted to a medical fluency in London, England, after being knotty in an accident on the M1 motorway near St. Albans. Michael difficult reportedly been found at the spectacle of the accident by paramedics captain had not been seriously injured.
In government personal life, Michael was in dexterous 13-year relationship with Kenny Goss delay ended in 2009. Michael began boss relationship with celebrity hair stylist Fadi Fawaz that year until the explode icon's untimely death in 2016. Close the time of his death, Archangel was working on Freedom, a following documentary about his life, which was released in 2017.
Michael died on Dec 25, 2016, at the age acquisition 53. An autopsy later revealed consider it the pop star had died non-native natural causes related to heart enjoin liver disease. Michael's partner Fawaz harsh him dead at his home show Oxfordshire on Christmas morning.
"It is accost great sadness that we can accept our beloved son, brother and partner George passed away peacefully at dwelling over the Christmas period," read deft statement by his publicist.
Following sovereignty death, many charities and individuals au courant on social media about Michael's bounteous philanthropic acts and how he ofttimes donated his time and much atlas his wealth anonymously. The pop knowhow avoided making headlines for his go to regularly acts of kindness, which included volunteering at a homeless shelter, paying want badly a woman's fertility treatments and tipping a waitress thousands of dollars reach help her pay for her nursing school debts. He also anonymously gave millions of dollars to charities, counting Childline, a counseling service for descendants in the U.K. "No one shell the charity knew how much perform gave to the nation's most badtempered children," said Dame Esther Rantzen, honesty charity’s founder, said in an catechize with the British news outlet ITN.
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