George Michael - Biography - IMDb
George Michael
Jump to: Overview  (5) | Mini Bio  (1) | Trade Mark  (1) | Trivia  (39) | Personal Quotes  (34)
Overview (5)
6' (1.83 m)
Mini Bio (1)
George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in Finchley, north London, in the United Kingdom, to Lesley Angold (Harrison), a dancer, and Kyriacos Panayiotou, a restaurateur. His father was a Greek Cypriot, and his mother was of English background. He first discovered fame as a musician when he and school friend, Andrew Ridgeley , formed the pop group Wham! . Success came fast and furious with their first album, 'Fantastic' (1983) hitting the UK number one spot. Wham! survived for five years and during that time the group notched up four number one singles and two number one albums. Most of their other releases made top three. George also contributed to the Band Aid Single 'Do They Know It's Christmas' (1984), and scored two further solo number one hits with 'Careless Whisper' and 'A Different Corner'.
Following the break-up of Wham! , George went on to have a hugely successful career as a solo artist, his debut album 'Faith' (1987) - and the single of the same name - both achieving instant and international success. The album has since been certified Diamond.
Over the last four decades George has notched up 8 number one albums in the and 13 number one singles in the UK (including Wham! , Band Aid , and the 'Five Live' EP). In the U.S. he has achieved 2 number one albums and 10 number one singles, with numerous other number one hits throughout the rest of the world.
He has performed duets with artists including Aretha Franklin , Elton John , Queen , and Lisa Stansfield , and actively participates in charitable causes, Live Aid and the Freddie Mercury concert for AIDS being just two of the more prominent examples. According to a BBC documentary, George donated more than five million pounds towards various charities. Whilst with Wham!, he donated all the proceeds of 'Last Christmas' (1984) to charity. The single reached number two in the UK and George also performed simultaneously on the number one charity record 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.
George released the single 'December Song' in 2008 as a free download: his hope was that purchasers would donate money to charity.
He remained in contact with his Wham! partner and long-time friend Andrew Ridgeley until his death in 2016.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
Trade Mark (1)
Powerful, smooth and soulful voice
Trivia (39)
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, for the first time he spoke publicly about being gay. BBC talk show host Michael Parkinson dedicated an episode of his Parkinson (1971) series to an interview with him. Michael also wrote and released the song "Outside", which had lyrics and a music video mocking the whole incident. The arresting police officer filed a civil suit against Michael for defamation of character, but it was dismissed.
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).
His song "Father Figure" was sampled for PM Dawn 's hit "Looking Through Patient Eyes".
He collaborated with Queen and Lisa Stansfield on the British chart-topping "Five Live" (EP) of 1993.
The first three singles of George Michael's solo career all went to the number one position on the UK chart: "Careless Whisper" (1984), "A Different Corner" (1986) and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987). The latter was a duet with Aretha Franklin .
His song with Wham! , "Last Christmas", is the best selling UK hit never to get to number one, reaching the number two position in December 1984, being re-issued and reaching the number six position the next December and being re-issued again and reaching the number 45 position in December 1986. It spent a total of 24 weeks on the UK chart.
He sang on the number one and number two Christmas singles of 1984, Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and Wham! 's "Last Christmas".
He was a big fan of This Morning (1988) and, on the final episode of the series, he phoned the presenters, Richard and Judy, to thank them live on air and to wish them the best.
He has contributed two songs to the "Warchild Hope" album (released 21 April 2003); one is a cover of Don McLean 's "The Grave" and the other is his own classic "Faith" (a duet with Ms Dynamite).
His controversial single "Shoot the Dog" (released 2002) had a video that ridiculed Tony Blair , Cherie Blair and George W. Bush .
His last performance with Wham! was at Wembley Stadium in June 1986.
Played a benefit for striking British miners. [September 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 he released it as his first solo single. The song reached number one in more than 25 countries and sold in excess of six million copies.
His father, Kyriacos Panayiotou, was a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner, who emigrated to the U.K. from Cyprus in the 1950s. His mother, Lesley Angold (Harrison), was of English background, the daughter of George James Harrison and Daisy Angold Young.
He and Andrew Ridgeley wrote "Careless Whisper" on the back of a bus during their school days.
He provided backing vocals on Andrew Ridgeley 's album "Son Of Albert" on tracks "Red Dress" & "Shake". These were the only two songs to do well on the charts.
His 1990 solo hit "Freedom 90" from the CD "Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1" was so titled to avoid confusion with his previous Wham! hit "Freedom".
He wrote many of his songs while working at a movie theater as a teenager.
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.
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.
He had an estimated fortune of £105 million upon his death in 2016.
He won several Brit (British Phonographic Industry) Awards during his career. He was the winner (as part of Wham! ) of the British Phonographic Industry Award for British Group in 1985. Wham! then shared the Outstanding Contribution award with Elton John in 1986. He was the winner of the award for British Male Solo Artist in 1988 following the success of his multi-million selling album "Faith". His album "Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1" won the 1991 Brit Award for British Album. He was also the winner of the 1997 Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist following the success of his album "Older".
He announced his retirement in February 2004, but began a new European tour in September 2006, his first tour in fifteen years.
His debut solo album "Faith" has sold more than 20 million copies since its release in 1987.
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 partner Anselmo Feleppa, whom he met in 1991, died from an AIDS-related brain haemorrhage in 1993.
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 in the early hours of the morning. He had an antidepressant in his system, as well as cannabis and 16 micro-grams per milliliter of the illegal Class C drug GHB. (9 June 2007).
He was a friend of Spice Girls singer Geri Horner .
He was ranked #73 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists.
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 the year 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. In the letter, McCartney said that he empathized with Michael as he himself had spent ten days in prison in Japan in 1980 after being caught with cannabis. He told Michael to keep his chin up and that he would see him when he is released. Apparently, Michael was delighted with the letter and read it over and over again.
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 it was released in 1984.
He had homes in London, in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (where he died), and Dallas, Texas.
He was a close friend of Shirlie Kemp , one of Wham! 's backing singers, and introduced her to her future husband, Martin Kemp , who was the bass player of the popular 1980s band Spandau Ballet .
The singer's music video "Freedom" (1989) featured supermodels Linda Evangelista , Naomi Campbell , Christy Turlington , Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz . Curiously, GM appeared nowhere in the video himself. Directed by David Fincher and photographed by Jeff Cronenweth .
Many observed the poignancy that he died on Christmas Day, 32 years after he first had a hit with Wham! 's "Last Christmas", a song which has become a Yuletide perennial.
Nearly died from pneumonia in December 2011.
Claimed his maternal grandmother was Jewish. However this was not actually true.