George Michael Biography

Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on 25 June 1963 ( died 25 December 2016), George Michael dropped out of high school with one of his friends and began their musical career.

Wham!

Freshly signed to Innervision records, he and Andrew Ridgeley formed Wham!. Their first album Fantastic (1983) reached number one in the UK. Their second album Make It Big peaked also at number one, but in the US. Wham! issued iconic singles like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Freedom”.

George’s solo career was blooming. His solo singles “Careless Whisper” and “A Different Corner” were giving hints about a soon-to-come departure. In 1986 Wham! disbanded. Their last single “The Edge of Heaven” reached number one in the UK.

Going solo

Michael boomed right after he began his solo career. His single with Aretha Franklin “I Knew You Were Waiting” went number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100.

His debut solo album Faith enclosed singles like “I Want Your Sex”, “Hard Day” and “Monkey”. The album’s tunes topped several charts. Faith won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1988.

Michael’s next album Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 met with modest success, compared to Faith. He hit the charts again with his single “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with Elton John. His next two albums were Older (1996) and Songs from the Last Century (1999). The former was rated 3/5 by Rolling Stone and 4/5 by Sputnikmusic.

After controversies regarding anti-war songs, Michael issued the album Patience (2004). The artist declared: “I’ve been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don’t need the public’s money. I’d like to have something on the Internet which is a charitable download site where anyone can download my music for free“.

Photo Source: Discogs