Monday, December 26, 2016

British superstar George Michael dies aged 53

British superstar George Michael dies aged 53

1/19
The Telegraph

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Pop superstar George Michael's death at the age of 53 from suspected heart failure is being treated by police as "unexplained but not suspicious".
The 53-year-old has died peacefully at home, his family said on Sunday night.
"It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period," Michael's family said in a statement released by Thames Valley Police.
"The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage."
Michael died at his home in Goring, England. His publicist, Cindi Berger, said he had not been ill. Michael's manager, Michael Lippman, says the cause of death was heart failure. 
"Thames Valley Police were called to a property in Goring-on-Thames shortly before 2pm Christmas Day. Sadly, a 53-year-old man was confirmed deceased at the scene," police said in a statement, adding that the singer's death is being treated as "unexplained but not suspicious" and that a post mortem will be undertaken "in due course."
Big names from the world of entertainment have paid tribute to him after hearing about his death, which comes in a year that has seen the music industry lose some of its biggest stars including Prince, David Bowie and Leonard Cohen.
Sir Elton John posted a photograph of himself and Michael on Instagram, writing: "I am in deep shock. I have lost a beloved friend - the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist. My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans."
Michael's former Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley said he was "heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend Yog", a nickname which refers to "Yours Only George".
He said: "Me, his loved ones, his friends, the world of music, the world at large. 4ever loved. A xx"
Friend Madonna paid her own tribute, posting an undated video on Twitter in which she embraced Michael on stage. In it she tells the audience: "He's a great songwriter and he makes very classy videos, like me."
Referencing several of his best known lyrics, she adds: "George, I want your sex, so be my father figure and I will have faith if we have to live hand-to-mouth. The diva himself."
Michael - whose real name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou - sold more than 100 million albums throughout a career spanning almost four decades . 
A one time busker, he teamed up with up with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981 to form Wham! which went on to massive success, releasing a string of hit singles including Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do), Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and Last Christmas.
With their extravagantly blow-dried hair, the band attracted millions of teenage followers around the world.
"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," he once said.
The band's first album, Fantastic, reached No 1 in 1983 and the group produced a succession of hits, with "Wake me up before you go-go" on reaching number 1 in the UK and the US.
Wham was the first western pop group to tour Communist China. The trip in April 1985 generated global media coverage - especially given that there was still hostility to what was considered decadent western music.
Michael started his solo career shortly before Wham! split, with the release of the megahit single "Careless Whisper," making a seamless transition. Critics generally viewed his Wham! songs as catchy but disposable pop and gave his solo efforts far higher marks.
Throughout his career, his drug use and taste for risky sex brought him into frequent brushes with the law, most famously in 1998 when he was arrested for public lewdness in Los Angeles. 
His first solo album, 1987's "Faith," sold more 20 million copies, and he enjoyed several hit singles including the raunchy "I Want Your Sex," which was helped immeasurably by a provocative video that received wide air play on MTV.
The song was controversial not only because of its explicit nature, but also because it was seen as encouraging casual sex and promiscuity at a time when the AIDS epidemic was deepening. Michael and his management tried to tamp down this point of view by having the singer write "Explore Monogamy" on the leg and back of a model in the video.
The 1998 arrest received international media attention, and seemed for a brief time to jeopardise Michael's stature as a top recording artist.
But instead of making excuses for his behavior, he went on to release a single and video, "Outside," that made light of the charges against him and mocked the Los Angeles police who had arrested him.
Like all of his efforts at the time, it sold in prodigious numbers, helping him put the incident behind him. The arrest also prompted him to speak openly about his sexual orientation.
These years represented the height of Michael's commercial success, which at times was marred by a protracted legal dispute with his record company Sony.
In 1996 he entered in a long term relationship with Kenny Goss, a former flight attendant - the couple were later reported to have registered a civil partnership in the UK.
He remained a strong musical force throughout his career, releasing dozens of records and touring to adoring crowds despite a growing number of run-ins with police, many of them stemming from a series of driving-under-the-influence-of-drugs incidents, including several crashes.
Michael was an acknowledged user of marijuana and prescription sedatives and several times was found slumped over his car's steering wheel after using both at the same time.
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1/16 SLIDES © Dave M. Benett/Getty Images; Peter Still/Redferns/Getty Images; Michael Putland/Getty Images
Pop star George Michael passed away, aged 53, in Oxfordshire, England on Dec. 25, 2016, his publicist confirmed. Winner of two Grammy Awards and three Brit Awards, the British pop icon sold over 100 million copies worldwide and delivered unforgettable hits such as "Careless Whisper," "One More Try" and "Father Figure." We take a look at the key moments from his life and career.
2/16 SLIDES © Sheila Rock/Rex Shutterstock
Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963 in East Finchley, London, U.K., Michael met his future Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley in Radlett, Hertfordshire in his pre-teen years. Both attended school in the neighboring town of Bushey and the duo instantly connected over their love for music.
3/16 SLIDES © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images
Beginning his musical career as a DJ, Michael played at local clubs and schools, before forming a ska band called The Executive with Ridgeley and three other friends. The band didn’t last long, leading Michael and Ridgeley to move on and create the pop-rock sensation, Wham!
4/16 SLIDES © Peter Still/Redferns/Getty Images
In 1981, Michael and Ridgeley teamed up to form the musical duo, Wham! Released in July 1983, their first album "Fantastic," sold over 900,000 copies in the U.K. and above 500,000 copies in the U.S. The album also earned them a 3x Platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for its overwhelming sales figures.
5/16 SLIDES © ITV/Rex Shutterstock
Wham! tasted immense success with their second album "Make It Big." Released on Oct. 23, 1984, the album featured hit tracks such as "Careless Whisper," "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Everything She Wants." It went on to sell over 1.2 million copies in the U.K., and also earned a 6x Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over six million copies in the U.S. Before separating in 1986, the duo brought out a total of three studio albums and two compilation albums, selling over 25 million records all over the world.
6/16 SLIDES © Rob Kozloff/AP Photo
He began his solo career with an Adult Contemporary duet with Aretha Franklin, "I Knew We Were Waiting," which topped both the U.K. Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The duo went on to win a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the song in 1988.
7/16 SLIDES © Michael Putland/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
On Oct. 30, 1987, Michael released his first solo studio album "Faith." With memorable songs such as "Father Figure," "I Want Your Sex" and "One More Try," the album sold over 25 million copies worldwide and earned Michael a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1989.
8/16 SLIDES © Michael Putland/Getty Images
On Sept. 3, 1990, Michael released his second solo studio album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1.” Featuring tracks such as “Praying for Time,” “Freedom! 90” and “Waiting for That Day,” the album peaked at the top position on the U.K. Albums Chart and sold over 1.2 million in the U.K., and above two million in the U.S.
9/16 SLIDES © Christopher Pillitz/Getty Images
Michael’s autobiography “Bare,” co-written with Tony Parsons, was published by Penguin Books in 1991.
10/16 SLIDES © Richard Young/Rex Shutterstock
On May 13, 1996, Michael released his third studio album “Older.” Introducing elements of Jazz and soul into his R&B and pop songs, the album comprised tracks such as “Jesus to a Child,” “Fastlove” and “Spinning the Wheel.” To date, the album has sold over eight million copies worldwide, including 1.8 million in the U.K. and a million in the U.S.
11/16 SLIDES © Richard Young/Rex Shutterstock
In a 1999 interview with the American LGBT-interest magazine, The Advocate, Michael revealed that he was bisexual. He said: “I never had a moral problem with being gay. I thought I had fallen in love with a woman a couple of times. Then I fell in love with a man, and realized that none of those things had been love.” Later in 2004, in an interview with the GQ magazine, he said, “I used to sleep with women quite a lot in the Wham! days but never felt it could develop into a relationship because I knew that, emotionally, I was a gay man. I didn't want to commit to them but I was attracted to them. Then I became ashamed that I might be using them. My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realize I was gay, not bisexual.”
(Pictured) Michael with then partner Kenny Goss at a charity fashion show in London in 1998.
12/16 SLIDES © Andrew Shawaf/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
On April 7, 1998, Michael was arrested for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public restroom in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. He was fined $810 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service after he pleaded “no contest” to the charge. In October 1998, Michael released a music video for his song, “Outside,” which mocked the public arrest. 
13/16 SLIDES © Haydn West/REX/Shutterstock
On Dec. 13, 1999, Michael released his fourth studio album, “Songs from the Last Century,” which featured covers of several jazz classics, as well as his interpretation of rock classics such as “Roxanne” by The Police and “Miss Sarajevo” by U2. The album sold over 600,000 copies in the U.K. and 1.52 million in the U.S.
14/16 SLIDES © Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Michael released his fifth studio album “Patience” on March 18, 2004. Featuring tracks such as “Amazing,” “John and Elvis are Dead” and “Freeek!” the album sold over four million copies worldwide.
15/16 SLIDES © Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters
On March 14, 2014, Michael released his sixth and final studio album “Symphonica.” The only live album released by the star, it featured songs recorded live during his Symphonica Tour (2011-12). Debuting at the top position on the U.K. charts, the album featured some of his much-acclaimed hits such as “Idol,” “My Baby Just Cares For Me” and “Cowboys and Angels.”
16/16 SLIDES © Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo
On Dec. 25, 2016, Michael “passed away peacefully at home” in Oxfordshire, according to his publicist and longtime manager. The cause of his death is said to be heart failure, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Representatives from the Thames Valley Police also affirmed that there were no suspicious circumstances regarding the death.
16/16 SLIDES
His driver's licence was finally revoked for five years in 2010 after Michael drove his Land Rover into the side of a Snappy Snap photo shop with so much force that his vehicle dented the wall.
A passer-by remembering Michael's early career wrote the word WHAM on the spot his SUV had hit.
He was also arrested a second time in public toilets - this time in North London in 2008 for drug use, an incident that prompted him to apologize to his fans and promise to get his life in order.
He also offered an apology to "everybody else, just for boring them."
In public interviews Michael said he was trying to cut down on his use of cannabis, but further drug driving convictions followed, eventually resulting in his spending four weeks at Highpoint Prison in Suffolk in 2010.
Michael nearly died from pneumonia in late 2011. After receiving treatment in a Vienna hospital, he made a tearful appearance outside his London home and said it had been "touch and go" whether he lived .
Doctors had performed a tracheotomy to keep his airways open and he was unconscious for some of his spell in hospital.
Meanwhile, Michael's 1990 album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 had been set to be reissued accompanied by a new film featuring Stevie Wonder, Elton John and the supermodels who starred in the video to his hit single Freedom! '90.
The movie, with the working title Freedom: George Michael, was to be narrated by Michael and set to feature Mark Ronson, Mary J Blige, Tony Bennett, Liam Gallagher, James Corden and Ricky Gervais.
The record was his second solo album, after the hugely successful Faith, and was arranged produced and almost entirely written by Michael, but did not feature him on the album cover.
It featured hits including Cowboys And Angels, Mother's Pride and Praying For Time and outsold Faith in the UK, where it went platinum four times but led to a court case with US record label Sony about Michael's frustration over how the album has been marketed. Michael lost the case.
Big names from the world of entertainment and politics have paid tribute to him after hearing about his death.
Former Radio One disc jockey Tony Blackburn said: "Unbelievable, George Michael has died at the age of 53. RIP.This dreadful year goes on and on.So sad, a real talent."
Musician Bryan Adams tweeted: "RIP George Michael. I can't believe it. Such an incredible singer and a lovely human being, far too young to leave us."
Contemporaries Duran Duran posted on their official Twitter account: "2016 - loss of another talented soul. All our love and sympathy to @George Michael's family."
Star Trek actor William Shatner said: "Is this year over yet? Too many people are passing away. Rest In Peace, George Michael."
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "Very sad to hear the news about George Michael. An incredible talent who brought joy to millions of us with his music."
Fellow politician Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, said: "This is just too awful. Such an amazing talent gone too soon. Wham was part of the soundtrack to my teenage years."
"Sad to hear that George Michael has died," said current Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. "He was an exceptional artist and a strong supporter of LGBT and workers' rights."
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