George Michael
- Profession: Musician
- Place/Date of Birth: Finchley, 25 June 2020
Lennon was shot to death by Mark David Chapman in New York on December 8 1980.
’Cocktail of drugs’ in George’s system - May 31 2007
George Michael, who has admitted driving while unfit, had a cocktail of drugs in his system including GHB and cannabis, a court heard yesterday.
The 43-year-old singer was found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes in Cricklewood, north London, on October 1 last year.
Prosecutor Andrew Torrington told Brent Magistrates Court in north London today that tests showed a therapeutic quantity of an anti-depressant in the singer’s system as well as the illegal dance club drug GHB - a class C substance.
Cannabis was also found in his blood, but the prosecution do not maintain that this was the cause of his intoxication.
Michael Grieve, representing George, who was not present at today’s hearing, said: "It is the defendant’s case that his condition was caused by taking prescribed drugs."
He said there was a strong body of opinion which said that a sleeping drug was the most likely explanation for his condition.
He also told the court it was common ground that GHB could be present in the blood without any illegal substances having been taken.
Mr Torrington told the court that while GHB was a banned drug, its effects could be created by drugs which are not controlled, including a drug called GBL.
District Judge Marshall adjourned sentence of the singer until June 8.
George was arrested after motorists reported a car obstructing the road at traffic lights.
The former Wham! star admitted driving while unfit at a court hearing on May 8, the first day of what was to have been his trial.
George faces drug-driving sentence - May 30 2007
George Michael is expected to be sentenced today for driving while unfit through drugs.
The 43-year-old singer admitted the charge at Brent Magistrates Court in north-west London on May 8, the first day of his trial, claiming he was guilty due to "tiredness and prescribed drugs".
A further charge of being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drugs was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
George, from north London, was arrested in Cricklewood on October 1 last year after motorists reported a car obstructing the road at traffic lights.
Police found the singer slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes.
The former Wham! star addressed District Judge Katherine Marshall directly in the court on May 8, saying: "I did something very stupid and I am very ashamed since doing it. I’m not used to defending myself in a position where I am ashamed of something."
The case was adjourned until today to hear expert witnesses and to enable more tests on a blood sample taken at the time of the arrest.
Since his court appearance, Michael has revealed he is addicted to prescription drugs and believes the world would be a better place if more people smoked marijuana.
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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