George Michael
- Profession: Musician
- Place/Date of Birth: Finchley, 25 June 2020
George said: "In all honesty it does me good. I take crap for a couple of weeks but it promotes my new single. I hate to say it but it’s true." The pop superstar insists most of what has been written about him in recent months is only "50 per cent true", but added: "I don’t want to do regular promotion so it does me good." George also admits he cannot wait to start his upcoming world tour so he can show people he is not on "his death bed".
The tour kicks off in the UK, in Manchester, on November 17 and despite recent rumours suggesting the shows would not go ahead due to "personal traumas" the ’Outside’ singer has confirmed the tour - his first in 15 years - will take place. He revealed in a radio interview: "The tour is a good way of showing people that I’m not on my death bead."
George Michael slumped over the wheel of his car, again - May 15, 2020
George Michael has been found slumped over the wheel of his car. again. The troubled singer - who was cautioned for possessing cannabis after he was found asleep at the wheel in February - was photographed apparently snoozing at traffic lights in London.
The star - who was also involved in a car accident earlier this month - didn ’t wake up until another driver tapped on his window. The motorist told the News of the World newspaper: "He was sweating heavily and had his iPod on. That’s probably why he didn’t hear all the angry tooting behind him. "He got going again - but was weaving all over the place. Then he hit a bollard. I doubt he even noticed it. He looked wasted. He just drove on."
Meanwhile, the singer’s cousin, Andreas Georgiou, has claimed Michael - who was arrested for a lewd act in a public toilet in Los Angeles in 1998 - spends hours cruising the streets looking for gay lovers. He recently revealed: "George cruises. That’s what he does. That’s a big part of his life. That’s what the driving is all about - and that’s why George goes out on his own without a driver." He added: "After the LA incident, George even told me, ’Andreas, that’s what I do. I just fancied getting a w**k in the afternoon. I get off on it’."
George Michael’s friends are begging him to give up smoking cannabis - Mar 1, 2020
Pals of the ’Careless Whisper’ singer are worried about his alleged growing dependence of the drug, but he is refusing to turn his back on weed. A source close to the star told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "It’s affecting his concentration and obviously has a big impact on his lifestyle at the moment. "He needs to stop smoking so much, in fact it would probably be better if he left the weed alone completely, and got himself looked at properly."
Michael was arrested in the early hours of Sunday (26.02.06) after being found slumped over the wheel of his car, possessing class C drugs, and with a boot full of sex toys and gay porn. The star is still waiting to find out whether he will be formally charged with any offence. Friends blame the former Wham! frontman’s recent behaviour on a heavy work load - finishing off a new album and the stress of planning his first tour since 1991. One said: "George has got to be totally focussed on his music and his work if this is to come off. "He also needs to be physically fit to cope with a big tour and apart from anything else. Smoking weed is bad of his throat and won’t help his voice."
Helena Bonham Carter
Hugh Laurie
Rachel Weisz
Faces in Fashion
Ricci Stoene
Sadie Frost
Musicians
DJ Jon Carter
Graham Coxon
Ms Dynamite
Writers & Artists
Amanda Craig
Features
Celeb Rehab
Keeping up with the WAGs...
Profiles: Film
Angelina Jolie
Keira Knightley
Tom Cruise
Profiles: Music
Britney Spears
Kylie Minogue
Madonna
Profiles: Fashion
Kate Moss
Naomi Campbell
Victoria Beckham
Win a flight to New York
Win a flight to New York
Win a return flight to New York and get paid for your opinions!
| Book local Hotels |  |
under £40 | |
from £40 to £60 | |
from £60 to £80 | |
from £80 to £100 | |
over £100 |
Michael had hit after hit with Wham! - Club Tropicana, Wham Rap, Wake me Up Before You Go Go all remain classics, featuring on every best of the eighties compilation going. Whilst in Wham! George had solo success with one of his most famous hits, Careless Whisper.
When the mighty Wham! split in 1986 Michael found he had to prove himself to music critics who thought he was just another flash in the pan boy band reject. He did it easily with hit after hit, a duet with Aretha Franklin and a blue eyed soul boy image. In the nineties he kept the good work up, duetting with Elton John on Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me and in 1992 was announced to be one of the richest men in the UK thanks to incredible record sales.
But in the mid to late nineties things started to turn sour with George’s record label, Sony and despite producing one of the most successful albums of the decade with Older, he left Sony to create his own label - Aegean Records. A year later George hit the headlines after being arrested for committing ’lewd acts’ in a public toilet (you all know that story), forcing the singer to come out publicly.
Many thought it would be the end of his career, but the master of reinvention hit back with arguably his finest single to date, Outside. The video for his hit single featured the cheeky Greek dressed as a policeman gyrating about a disco-balled toilet, a great two fingers up to the press and police who had outed him. George has since played up his gayness, recently telling the world about his ’open relationship’ with boyfriend Kenny Goss and his ’Vanilla’ tastes in sex. In between revealing all he has become increasingly political, releasing slated single Freeeek!, an anti Iraq war song and using interviews to champion the causes close to his heart.
The ex Wham! star remains a force to be reckoned with even after announcing that he is bowing out of the music business to release his recordings online for free. Good news for skint George Michael fans, not so much for the industry.
By Laura Walton
October 2007