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| George Michael |
George Michael, the British pop superstar who reached early
fame with WHAM! and went on to a solo career lined with controversies and
chart-topping hits that blended soul and dance music with daring social and
personal commentary, has died, his publicist said Sunday. He was 53.
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. His family issued a statement
through Thames Valley Police saying that he "passed away peacefully at
home over the Christmas period.
"The family would ask that their privacy be respected
at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this
stage."
Before Lippmann's announcement, police issued a statement
calling the death "unexplained but not suspicious" and that "a
post mortem will be undertaken in due course."
The loss of Michael continues a year of grief in the music
industry, with David Bowie, Prince and Glenn Frey among those dying before age
70.
One of the giants of '80s and '90s music, and an early idol
for the MTV generation, Michael enjoyed immense popularity from the start with
hits such as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," ''Young Guns (Go For
It)" and "Freedom." As a solo artiste, he developed into a more
serious singer and songwriter, lauded by critics for his powerful vocal and
expressive range. He sold well over 100 million albums globally, earned
numerous Grammy and American Music Awards, and recorded duets with Aretha
Franklin, Ray Charles, Luciano Pavarotti and Elton John among others.
"I have lost a beloved friend — the kindest, most
generous soul and a brilliant artiste," Elton John wrote on Instagram.
He reached the very heights of success, but agonized over
being a celebrity. He spoke of cutting back on tours and interviews and letting
his work speak for itself. One aging superstar thought he was behaving like a
fool: In a public letter dated September 9, 1990, Frank Sinatra advised Michael
to "loosen up" and "swing, man."
"The tragedy of fame is when no one shows up and you're
singing to the cleaning lady in some empty joint that hasn't seen a paying
customer since Saint Swithin's day," Sinatra wrote.
Michael, with tailored good looks and an easy stage manner,
formed the duo WHAM! with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s.
Helped by MTV, founded around the same time, easily crossed the Atlantic to
become popular in the United States with Michael, as lead singer, usually the
focal point.
He 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. Yet, he managed to turn the
incident into fodder for a popular song that poked fun at his behavior, and his
acknowledgment of his homosexuality at that time made him even more popular
with his fans.
His first solo album, 1987's "Faith," sold more
than 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.
At the time, Michael had not disclosed his homosexuality,
and much of his chart success was based on his sex appeal to young women. His
look was raw and provocative, with tight jeans, tight T-shirts, black leather
jackets and designer stubble, and his videos pushed the accepted limits with
many lingerie-clad models vying for Michael's attention on screen.
But Michael's situation changed abruptly in 1998 when he was
arrested for lewd conduct in a public toilet in Los Angeles after being spotted
by a male undercover police officer.
The arrest received international media attention, and
seemed for a brief time to jeopardize Michael's stature as a top recording
artiste.
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.
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.
His driver's license 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."
A year earlier, he had told a television interviewer that
his problems stemmed from a self-destructive streak and his attention-seeking
nature.
He said at a press conference in 2011 that he felt he had
let young people down with his misbehavior and had made it easier for others to
denigrate homosexuals.
Despite these personal setbacks, Michael's musical
performances remained strong even as his material moved farther from the teen tunes
that first brought him to stardom.
The Telegraph newspaper in 2011 described a London concert
appearance as an impressive event, calling his voice, "A rich, soulful
instrument, it's capable of serious emotional heft, expertly matching the
confessional tone of his own material."
Michael, with strong Greek-Cypriot roots, was born Georgios
Panayiotou in England. He and schoolmate Ridgeley formed a ska band called the
Executive when they were just 16 before moving on to form WHAM!
"I wanted to be loved," said Michael of his start
in the music field. "It was an ego satisfaction thing."
Michael was active in a number of charities and helped raise
money to combat AIDS, help needy children and support gay rights. He had a
long-term relationship with Kenny Goss, but announced onstage in August 2011
that the two had broken up
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