George Michael
- Profession: Musician
- Place/Date of Birth: Finchley, 25 June 2020
Hirst said of the skull: "I hope it makes the people who see it feel good, that it’s uplifting, that it takes your breath away."
Michael scores with a Wembley first - June 10 2007
George Michael became the first singer to play at the new Wembley. Michael, who also performed at the old stadium, delighted fans as he took to the stage for the sell-out concert.
The star spoke minutes before going out on stage. He said of being the first to perform at the new stadium: "It’s an amazing honour because I have felt a huge association with Wembley from when I was a child.
"We’ve got a few surprises, some things fans have not heard for a while.
"People can expect one of the best shows they have ever seen."
Asked how the events of Friday when he appeared in court had affected his preparations, he replied: "Not at all, not in the slightest. It’s just nice to have it out of the way."
The singer was fresh from an appearance at a less salubrious venue nearby - Brent Magistrates Court, where he was banned from driving for two years.
He was also sentenced to 100 hours community service for driving while unfit. The star was found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes car at a road junction in north London in the early hours of October 1 last year.
The 43-year-old previously admitted the offence, claiming he was guilty due to tiredness and prescribed drugs.
As he left the court, Michael told reporters: "I am glad to put this behind me and now I’m off to do the biggest show of my life."
The star kicked off his European tour last month with a sell-out concert at the Aarhus Stadium in Denmark. The British leg of his 25 Live 2007 Stadium Tour will also take in Manchester, Glasgow, Plymouth and Norwich.
George Sentenced - June 8 2007
George Michael was sentenced to 100 hours community service today for driving while unfit.
The star was found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes car at a road junction in north London in the early hours of October 1 last year. The 43-year-old previously admitted the offence, claiming he was guilty due to tiredness and prescribed drugs.
Today he was sentenced to 100 hours community service, to be carried out over the next 12 months, and was disqualified from driving for two years at Brent Magistrates’ Court in north London. He was also ordered to pay £2,325 in costs.
The singer, who was wearing a charcoal grey suit and black T-shirt, told sentencing Judge Katherine Marshall that he was "ashamed" of the danger he had put other people in by his actions.
Sentencing, the judge gave him full credit for his guilty plea for driving while unfit, adding that she was sentencing him on the basis that he was unfit to drive and not on the possible reasons for his condition. She told the singer the risk he had posed to other road users "was high" and as she banned him from driving for two years she told him: "Your driving record is not good."
George told reporters outside court: "I am glad to put this behind me and now I’m off to do the biggest show of my life." The sentence means the star can go ahead with two sell-out concerts at the new Wembley Stadium.
George to be Sentenced - June 8 2007
George Michael is due to be sentenced today for driving while unfit. The star has admitted the offence, claiming he was guilty due to "tiredness and prescribed drugs".
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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