Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou
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George Michael wrote Last Christmas when he was 21 and Careless Whisper at 17, both becoming chart-topping hits. He sold over 100 million records worldwide with Wham! and as a solo artist, winning multiple BRIT and Grammy Awards. His 1987 album Faith sold over 20 million copies. He died on Christmas Day 2016 at age 53.
Names, aliases, and relatives of George Michael — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
George Michael by the numbers — life, work, and family.
George Michael — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963, in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England. His father Kyriacos was a Greek Cypriot restaurateur, and his mother Lesley Angold was a dancer of English background. He attended Bushey Meads School and later Kingsbury High School, where he met school friend Andrew Ridgeley. As a teenager, Michael wrote songs while working at a movie theater, and he and Ridgeley formed the pop duo Wham! after leaving school.
Wham! released their debut album Fantastic in 1983, hitting number one in the UK. The group scored four number one singles, including Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go in 1984. That same year, Michael contributed to Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? and released his first solo single Careless Whisper, which reached number one in 25 countries and sold over six million copies. After Wham! split in 1986, his debut solo album Faith 1987 achieved international success, selling over 20 million copies and earning a Diamond certification. He continued with hits like Freedom! 90 and duets with Aretha Franklin and Elton John. He performed at Live Aid and the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. His later albums included Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 1990 and Older 1996, both UK number one chart-toppers.
Michael met Brazilian designer Anselmo Feleppa in 1991; Feleppa died of an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage in 1993. In 1998, Michael was arrested in a Beverly Hills public restroom for committing a lewd act, which led him to publicly come out as gay. He later had a long-term relationship with Kenny Goss from 1996 to 2009. He was a generous philanthropist, donating millions to charities including Childline, the Terrence Higgins Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, and Project Angel Food, often anonymously. He also gave a £25,000 tip to a student nurse and sent £15,000 to a woman undergoing IVF treatment. His sister Melanie Panayiotou died on the third anniversary of his death in 2019.
Two of the UK’s 50 best-selling singles are George Michael’s: Careless Whisper and Last Christmas. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and his debut solo album Faith remains a landmark of 1980s pop. Artists such as Adele and Chris Martin paid tribute to him at major award shows in 2017. His philanthropic work, including over £5 million in donations, showed his generous and private nature. With over 100 million records sold, he ranks among the best-selling British recording artists.
Browse the complete filmography of George Michael — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by George Michael — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from George Michael — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Still Believe That Music Is One of the Greatest Gifts That God Gave to Man.
Even Though It’s Become a Really Cliched Thing to See Musicians Working for Charity, It’s Still Effective and It Still Has to Be Done.
It Was My Own Stupid Fault. I Was in Possession of Class C Drugs Which Is an Offence and I Have No Complaints About the Police, Who Were Professional Throughout.
I Have Been Doing This on and off Since I Was a Teenager and Never Once Seen Violence. If I Want to See Violence or What I Call Shameful Behaviour, the Idea That Women in Clubs These Days Have to Hold Their Hand Over Their Drink for Fear of Being Drugged … Please Don’t Tell Me as a Member of the Straight Community That I Am Taking Risks. I Know What I Do and I Am Sorry, but We Should Not Be Taking Questions Like This, from Straight Women in Particular … I Do Not Deserve the Criticism. What I Don’t Have Respect for Is Some Demand for Answers from an Openly Gay Man Who Is Living His Own Life. I Have Not Cheated or Lied About My Sex Life to Anybody in My Life, in My Entire Life. I Hate Not to Be Able to Rise Above It, but There Is Only so Much You Can Take. I’m Suing the Individual Involved Who I Have Never, Ever Seen, Let Alone Wanted to Have Any Kind of Sexual Encounter With, and I’m Currently Investigating Suing the Secondary Sources of Libel. I Am Taking Legal Action Against the Photographers Because They’re Harassing Me and I Should Not Have to Worry About Who’s Watching Me at 2:30 in the Morning.
In a Strange Way I’ve Spent the Last 15 to 20 Years Trying to Derail My Own Career. but It Never Seems to Suffer. I Suffer Like Crazy. I’ve Suffered Bereavements and Public Humiliations, but My Career Always Seems to Right Itself Like a Plastic Duck in the Bath. in Some Ways I Resent That.
It Is Nice to Know That the News of the World Is Still so Concerned for My Well Being.
I Think Pop Music Should Be About Youth Culture. It Shouldn’t Be an Endurance Test. If I Can Just Live Further from the Spotlight I Think That’ll Be Better for All Really.
Women Seem to Ignore the Fact That I’m Gay. I Think That Women Really Get the Feeling That I Understand Them. I Grew up with Two Sisters, I Went Out with Women When I Was Younger. I Do Understand Them, Unfortunately.
Elton John Said He Thought I Was Miserable for Some Reason and I Have Been Trying to Prove That I’m Not Ever Since. the Subtext to It Is Always, ‘He Was All Right Before He Came Out and Now He Lives This Depraved Gay Life and Is Miserable and Fat’ and from That Point on I Have Suffered This Kind of Wishful Thinking from the Press.
Boy George Is Great Company and a Man I Have Always Wanted to Like. He Acts in a Homophobic Way to Other Gay Men by Being Such a Bitch. It’s an Aggression That He Can’t Get Rid Of.
I Know I’m Basically a Good Person Whose Two Crimes Appear to Be That I’m Gay and I’ve Got a Big Mouth to Go with It.
I’m Basically a Control Freak. It’s Not Because I Want to Be. I’m Not at All into the Power Play That’s Involved in It. I’m a Perfectionist.
There Are Very Few Things in My Life That I Can’t Have If I Want Them. so When I See Something That I Think I Can’t Have, Immediately I’m Obsessed by It.
I Just Hope That I’ll Stay Around Musically for as Long as I Can. I’d Love to Think That I Will Still Be Satisfying Myself and Other People as a Musician Until the Day I Die.
As an Artist I’m Not Interested in Repeating Former Successes.
Loyalty Can Be Different Things to Different Sexualities.
I Have a Serious Problem with the Fact That Every Time I Made a Mistake and Every Time I Let Myself Down That I Was Letting Young Gay Kids Down.
It Is Such an Amazing Feeling to Watch the Effect I Have on My Audience. There Is No Question That Is the Most Valuable Thing I Can Ever Do in Terms of Contribution and It Seems That God Wanted Me to and Gave Me the Voice to Do It and the Stamina to Do It.
There Is No Such Thing as a Reluctant Star. Stars Are Almost Always People That Want to Make up for Their Own Weaknesses by Being Loved by the Public and I’m No Exception to That.
Little-known facts about George Michael — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Michael’s partner Anselmo Feleppa, whom he met in 1991, died from an AIDS-related brain haemorrhage in 1993.
He wrote, produced and performed the classic song Last Christmas when he was just 21 years old. There have been over 395 cover versions of the song by different artists since its release in 1984.
He wrote his smash hit single Careless Whisper when he was just 17, on a Thursday afternoon in Bushey. He waited until he was 21 before releasing it as his first solo single. The song reached number one in more than 25 countries and sold in excess of six million copies.
After his death, many stories surfaced about his generous nature. He donated to charities such as Childline, The Terrence Higgins Trust for HIV victims and Macmillan Cancer Support as well as being the greatest benefactor for Project Angel Food. His only condition for many contributions was anonymity. He also often volunteered at homeless shelters. He gave a five thousand pound tip to a student nurse working in a bar, gave twenty-five thousand pounds to a woman he heard crying over debt in a cafe, and anonymously sent fifteen thousand to a woman on a game show who needed money for IVF treatment. Every Christmas, he donated one-hundred thousand pounds to Capital FM’s charity drive. He donated royalties from his 1996 UK number-one Jesus to a Child to Childline and from the Elton John duet Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me to an AIDS hospice.
He recorded duets with Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Rory Bourke, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston.
He wrote many of his songs while working at a movie theater as a teenager.
The music video for his 1989 single Freedom! ’90 featured supermodels Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz. George Michael did not appear in the video himself. It was directed by David Fincher and photographed by Jeff Cronenweth.
He and Andrew Ridgeley wrote Careless Whisper on the back of a bus during their school days.
His debut solo album Faith has sold more than 20 million copies since its release in 1987.
In September 1984, he played a benefit for striking British miners as part of Wham!.
He was arrested in April 1998 at a public restroom in Beverly Hills for committing a lewd act in front of an undercover police officer. As a result, he spoke publicly about being gay for the first time. He wrote and released the song Outside with lyrics and a music video mocking the incident. The arresting officer filed a civil suit against him for defamation of character, which was dismissed.
A fan of The Beatles, he performed with Paul McCartney at Live 8 2005. He also bought John Lennon’s Steinway Model Z upright piano for £1.67m in 2000, then donated it to Liverpool’s Beatles Story museum. In September 2010, while serving a prison sentence for driving under the influence of drugs, Michael received a two-page handwritten letter from McCartney to lift his spirits. McCartney said he empathized with Michael as he had spent ten days in prison in Japan in 1980 after being caught with cannabis. Michael was delighted with the letter and read it repeatedly.
He was sentenced to 100 hours community service for driving while unfit. The singer was arrested on 1 October 2006 after being found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes. He had an antidepressant, cannabis, and 16 micrograms per milliliter of the illegal Class C drug GHB in his system.
The first three singles of George Michael’s solo career all went to number one on the UK chart: Careless Whisper 1984, A Different Corner 1986 and I Knew You Were Waiting For Me 1987, a duet with Aretha Franklin.
He was reported to have sold over 100 million albums upon his death in 2016 when his sales with Wham! and as a solo artist were combined.
Many people paying tribute to him noted the poignancy that he died on Christmas Day, 32 years after he first had a hit with Wham!’s Last Christmas, a song that has become a Yuletide perennial. Many also regarded his death as the tragic end to an almost relentlessly sad year for music, following the deaths of David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen and pioneering producer George Martin.
He was a big fan of This Morning 1988 and on the final episode, he phoned presenters Richard and Judy to thank them live on air and wish them the best.
He sang on both the number one and number two Christmas singles of 1984: Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? and Wham!’s Last Christmas.
His last performance with Wham! was at Wembley Stadium in June 1986.
He won several Brit Awards during his career. He was the winner as part of Wham! of the British Phonographic Industry Award for British Group in 1985. Wham! shared the Outstanding Contribution award with Elton John in 1986. He won British Male Solo Artist in 1988 following the success of Faith. His album Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 won the 1991 Brit Award for British Album. He won British Male Solo Artist again in 1997 after the success of Older.
He was a close friend of Shirlie Kemp, one of Wham!’s backing singers, and introduced her to her future husband, Martin Kemp, the bass player of Spandau Ballet. His other music industry friends included Elton John, Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell-Horner, Belinda Carlisle and Mariah Carey.
His 1990 solo hit Freedom ’90 from the CD Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 was titled to avoid confusion with his previous Wham! hit Freedom.
His father, Kyriacos Panayiotou, was a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner who emigrated to the UK from Cyprus in the 1950s. His mother, Lesley Angold, was of English background, daughter of George James Harrison and Daisy Angold Young.
He provided backing vocals on Andrew Ridgeley’s album Son Of Albert on tracks Red Dress and Shake. These were the only two songs to do well on the charts.
Following his death, Madonna described him as a great artist and Nile Rodgers called him an absolute genius. Peter Gabriel called him a very talented musician who was always kind and generous. Fish called him a massively likeable and extremely down to earth person and a brilliant songwriter and truly amazing singer. Tributes also came from comedians Ricky Gervais and James Corden who had performed in comedy sketches with him and Margaret Cho. Chris Martin performed a tribute at the 2017 Brit Awards and Adele performed a tribute at the Grammy Awards.
He wrote two of the 50 best-selling singles in UK history: Careless Whisper and Last Christmas. Both were originally released in 1984.
He had homes in London, in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire where he died, and Dallas, Texas.
He nearly died from pneumonia in December 2011.
His song Father Figure was sampled for PM Dawn’s hit Looking Through Patient Eyes.
He had an estimated fortune of £105 million upon his death in 2016.
He collaborated with Queen and Lisa Stansfield on the UK chart-topping Five Live EP in 1993.
He enjoyed four UK number one singles with Wham: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go 1984, Freedom 1984, I’m Your Man 1985 and The Edge of Heaven 1986.
He was paid £1.7 million to perform for an hour at Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin’s New Year’s party on 31 December 2006.
His song with Wham!, Last Christmas, is the best selling UK hit never to get to number one, reaching number two in December 1984, number six on re-issue in 1985, and number 45 on re-issue in 1986. It spent a total of 24 weeks on the UK chart.
His sister, Melanie Panayiotou, passed away on the third anniversary of his death, December 25, 2019.
He was the original inspiration for the carpool karaoke segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden. In 2011, Corden appeared in a sketch with Michael for Comic Relief that featured the pair speeding in a car to save Red Nose Day. In the sketch Corden turns on the car radio and urges Michael to duet with him.
He announced his retirement in February 2004, but began a new European tour in September 2006, his first tour in fifteen years.
He was ranked #73 on VH1’s 100 Sexiest Artists.
He was a big fan of Saturday Night Live; he thought Dana Carvey’s impressions of him Look at my butt! were hilarious.
His controversial single Shoot the Dog 2002 had a video that ridiculed Tony Blair, Cherie Blair and George W. Bush.
He contributed two songs to the Warchild Hope album 2003: a cover of Don McLean’s The Grave and his own classic Faith a duet with Ms Dynamite.
Although Michael said his maternal grandmother was Jewish, genealogical research showed otherwise. His grandmother Daisy Angold Young was the daughter of Edward Reuben Young and Sarah Susannah Angold, of non-Jewish English background.
Although celebrated as a gay icon upon his death, during his lifetime he was criticized for pretending to be heterosexual for commercial reasons in the 1980s and not officially coming out until after his 1998 arrest. This was despite growing acceptance of gay stars such as Boy George, Marc Almond, Jimmy Somerville, Holly Johnson, Andy Bell and Neil Tennant. He had a frosty relationship with Boy George, who said: People saw me as the benchmark queer while George Michael was passing himself off as a straight stud. In fact, he was loitering in public loos like some pre-war homosexual.
In the Independent on Sunday 2006 Pink List – a list of the most influential gay men and women – he came no. 25, down from 22.
His 1998 arrest in a Los Angeles public restroom was famously reported by The Sun with the headline Zip Me Up Before You Go Go, referencing his 1984 single Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.
His private funeral service was on March 29, 2017 in Highgate Cemetery’s Anglican Chapel. His family and close companions attended. He was subsequently laid to rest within that cemetery. His coffin was supplied by Harrison Funeral Home Highgate.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about George Michael.
Celebrities similar to George Michael — same craft, ranked by reach.
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