George Michael

George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he was known as a creative force in songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation.

Born in East Finchley, Middlesex, Michael rose to fame after forming the pop duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. He took part in Band Aid's UK number-one single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984 and performed at the following year's Live Aid concert. His debut studio album, ''Faith'' (1987), won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Michael then went on to release a series of multimillion-selling albums, including ''Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1'' (1990), ''Older'' (1996), ''Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael'' (1998), ''Songs from the Last Century'' (1999), ''Patience'' (2004), and ''Twenty Five'' (2006). His most successful singles include "Careless Whisper", "A Different Corner", "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)", "Faith", "Father Figure", "One More Try", "Monkey", "Praying for Time", "Freedom! '90", "Jesus to a Child", "Fastlove", "Outside", "Amazing", and "An Easier Affair".

Michael came out as gay in 1998, and was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. His personal life, drug use, and legal troubles made headlines following an arrest for public lewdness in 1998 and multiple drug-related offences. The 2005 documentary ''A Different Story'' covered his career and personal life. His 25 Live tour spanned three tours from 2006 to 2008. In 2011 Michael fell into a coma during a bout with pneumonia, but recovered. He performed his final concert at London's Earls Court in 2012. Michael died of heart disease on Christmas Day in 2016, at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

Michael is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, scoring 10 number-one songs on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and 13 number-one songs on the UK singles chart. He won numerous music awards, including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, twelve ''Billboard'' Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards. He was listed among ''Rolling Stone'''s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time and ''Billboard''s Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time. The Radio Academy named him the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. Provided by Wikipedia