George Michael born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou ; 25 June — 25 December was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! Michael sold over 80 million records worldwide making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He was widely known for his success in the s and s, including Wham! Michael formed the duo Wham! Faith was named Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. Michael's personal life and legal troubles made headlines during the late s and s, as he was arrested for public lewdness in and was arrested for multiple drug-related offences after that time.

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We look back at the GQ archive in the singer, who died in London over Christmas in , aged 53, has packed several lifetimes into four decades, beating drugs, depression and a cruel outing at the hands of the world's media. In his most revealing interview to date, conducted in when he won our GQ Lifetime Achievement award, he explains why it's all been worth it. George Michael's house is tucked away alongside a block of flats in the dead end of a rather unremarkable west London road. His Range Rover barely squeezes onto the off-street parking area, and there are no security gates, no imposing entrance pillars, and not so much as a CCTV camera or concrete lion in sight. Britney et al would pale at the thought. The man even answers his own front door, for God's sake, greeting me with a cosmetically assisted Colgate smile that's the only clue to his superstar status. If someone really wants to hurt you, they'll find a way whatever. I don't want to live my life worrying about it. That said, he has had a couple of unsettling experiences with fans, most notably an English girl who lived under his house for four days.
As a teenager, George Michael formed the band Wham! In , Michael announced that he was gay after being arrested for lewd conduct in a public restroom. Michael continued to perform and his career had a reboot in the mids with the release of his greatest hits album Twenty Five. He continued to tour and donated much of his time and wealth to charity. One of the leading artists in popular music in the s and s, he grew up in and around London, where he developed his passion for music at an early age. While in high school, Michael befriended Andrew Ridgeley, with whom he shared a love of pop music and they began playing music together. By some reports, Michael and Ridgeley were an unlikely duo. Michael was pudgy and shy, while Ridgeley was attractive and outgoing.