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George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter, record producer and philanthropist. Regarded as a pop culture icon, [2] he is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, with his sales estimated at between 100 million to 125 million records worldwide.
- Wham! – Battlestations
- George Michael – Something to Save
- Wham! – Blue
- George Michael – My Mother Had A Brother
- George Michael – One More Try
- George Michael – December Song
- Wham! – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
- George Michael – Praying For Time
- Wham! – Club Tropicana
- George Michael – Spinning The Wheel
Tucked away on the B-side of The Edge of Heaven, Battlestations is a fascinating anomaly in the Wham! catalogue. Raw, minimal, and influenced by contemporary dancefloor trends – but still very much a pop song – it gives a glimpse of what might have happened had the duo stayed together and taken a hipper, more experimental direction.
An understated, atypical deep cut from Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 – stripped-back, concise, acoustic-guitar driven, with just a hint of cello and tambourine. But it does a lot with a little: Michael’s vocal is really powerful and the moment when the stacked vocal harmonies kick in halfway through is a delight.
Blue started life as an unfinished near-instrumental hastily bunged on the B-side of Club Tropicana, and gradually developed on stage into a classy, blue-eyed R&B slow jam far better than a lot of songs on their debut album, Fantastic. Wham! rightly had a regard for Blue: it turned up on greatest hits album The Final.
Sometimes, the contents of Patience sounded a little too obviously like the work of someone who smoked an enormous quantity of weed, but My Mother Had a Brother – which retold the story of Michael’s closeted gay uncle, who killed himself on the day the singer was born – is tender and yet incredibly powerful.
Faith offered an embarrassment of songwriting riches, including the pained balladry of One More Try. A great version on Michael’s final album, Symphonica, strips away the synths and replaces them with choral backing vocals and a southern soul organ, revealing the song’s musical roots.
Inevitably overshadowed by Last Christmas, 2011’s December Song deserves to be better known. A gorgeous, heartfelt, harmony-laden but schmaltz-free ballad, it comes with a hint of darkness lurking in the background, as well as what appears to be a reference to Michael’s well-publicised troubles: “I went a little crazy / God knows they can see the c...
If any song embodies what infuriated people about Wham!, Wake Me Up … is it. It’s neon-hued, incredibly perky and utterly brazen in its desire to be hugely commercially successful: they performed it on Top of the Pops wearing T-shirts that read Number One. It is also a fantastic pop song, which presumably infuriated people even more.
Another shift away from the sound of Faith, Praying for Time is audibly immersed in the oeuvre of John Lennon. The music recalls Mind Games, while the frustrated, sarcastic lyrical tone and the slapback echo-dosed vocals are very Instant Karma!. But it rises beyond pastiche: the melody is gorgeous, Michael’s vocals are superb.
Inspired by the Gap Band’s awesome Burn Rubber on Me – you can hear the influence in its backing track – Club Tropicana was theclassic sweltering-summer-of-83 hit, despite considerable competition. There’s something oddly sarcastic about the lyrics: another Wham! hit more knowing than its reputation suggests.
Given his fondness for a joint, it was perhaps inevitable that Michael would be drawn towards the sound of trip-hop in the mid-90s. But Spinning the Wheel offers trip-hop of a particularly high, luxurious quality: a beat indebted to reggae, subtle samples, a lazily soulful song atop. Plus, the sound of a spliff being lit at the end.
The official website for George Michael, the legendary singer-songwriter and pop icon. Find out the latest news, listen to his music, watch his videos and browse his photo gallery.
Enjoy the complete collection of George Michael's songs and videos on YouTube, featuring his best-selling albums, greatest hits and live performances. Discover the legacy of one of the most ...
Nov 2, 2023 · Learn about the life and career of George Michael, the Grammy Award-winning singer and pop star of the 1980s and 1990s. From his early days with Wham! to his solo albums and activism, discover his achievements, controversies, and legacy.
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Watch the original videos of George Michael's hits, from Careless Whisper to Freedom, in this official playlist. Don't miss the pop legend's best songs.
4 days ago · George Michael British singer and songwriter who rose from teen idol status with the Brit-pop band Wham! to global superstardom as a solo pop music artist in the 1980s and ’90s. Panayiotou was the youngest of three children in a family of English and Greek-Cypriot heritage. His mother, Lesley
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