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George Michael (born June 25, 1963) is a
Greece|Greek-United Kingdom|British pop
singer/songwriter born in East Finchley, London.

==Wham!==
Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, Michael began
his career by forming a band called The Executive
together with his best friend Andrew Ridgeley,
though it did not survive for long.  It wasn't
until he formed the duo   Wham! (pop duo)|Wham!
together again with Ridgeley in the early 1980s
that the success came for the band. Their first
album, 'Fantastic', was an instant success and 
within a year they had released their classic
debut single, Wham Rap, while their second single,
Young Guns (Go For It!) became the first in a
string of Top 10 hits. They were rapidly followed
by titles such as Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up
Before You Go Go, Careless Whisper, Last
Christmas, Everything She Wants, I'm Your Man, and
many more. Michael also sang on the original Band
Aid (band)|Band Aid recording of Do They Know It's
Christmas and donated the profits from Last
Christmas to the charity. After the success of 
his solo releases "Careless Whisper" and
"Different Corner" stories of an impending split
intensified. After a series of sell-out concerts
at Wembley in 1986 the band was ended.

==Solo career==   

Some of his biggest hit singles as a solo artist
include the single "Faith" (taken from his debut
album Faith that not only became No.1 on both
sides of the Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic but also
resulted in stunning 6 No.1 singles in United
States|America) and many more. 

"Careless Whisper" (written when he was 17) became
one of the most played songs of the decade and
voted Londoner's Favourite record of all time in
January 1995 in a competition run jointly by the
capital's leading evening newspaper and radio
station. He was then also voted Best Male Singer
by the same radio station and by the readers of a
national newspaper. Some of his other hits include
"Father Figure", "One More Try", "Freedom 90",
"Fastlove", "Jesus To A Child", "Don't Let the Sun
Go Down on Me" (a duet with Elton John), 2002's
"Freeek!" and "Shoot The Dog".

His work covers a variety of pop styles, from
ballads to funky dance tracks. In a career
spanning more than 20 years, George Michael has
been responsible for more than 80 million album
sales. 

Having decided to release his new material through
a number of labels on a single-by-single basis,
George found a home at Sony for his new, highly
anticipated album Patience (2004 album)|Patience.
It was released in March 2004 after two unstellar
singles came out on Polydor and it debuted at
number one on the UK album charts and number 2 in
Australia.

During 2005 event Live 8, George Michael joined
Paul McCartney on stage, harmonising on "Drive My
Car". He couldn't perform a separate set himself
because of a cold. At the event, George told BBC
Radio1 that he's writing and recording music at
home. He also stated that he's recording a new
version of "Heal The Pain" with Paul McCartney.  
"We’re doing some recording later this week
actually. We’re gonna do another version of one
of my old songs called "Heal the Pain" – which I
wrote as a tribute to him and so I’m incredibly
honoured that he’s gonna sing it for me," George
said.

==Notoriety==
Michael was involved in a court case concerning
his record contract after his record company
Columbia records|CBS was taken over by Sony.
Amongst Michael's complaints was that Sony had not
fully supported the release of his second solo
album resulting in its poor performance in the US
compared to "Faith". Sony responded that Michael
had refused to appear in promotional videos and it
was this that had caused the poor response to the
album.  The case was heard in London and was found
against Michael. As a consequence Michael declared
he would not release any new material until he had
completed the minimum of his contractual
obligations to Sony. 

Michael is also well known for his 1998 arrest for
"cottaging|engaging in a lewd act" in a public
restroom in a Beverly Hills city park. He was
arrested by an undercover Beverly Hills police
officer named Marcelo Rodriguez. 

:George Michael: "Well, I was followed into the
restroom, and then, this cop – well, I
didn't know he was a cop at the time obviously
– he started playing this game. I think it's
called ‘I'll show you mine, you show me
yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm gonna
nick you!'"
http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/people/11099
8pe.htm

After pleading "no contest" to the charge, Michael
was fined $810 and sentenced to 80 hours of
community service. After that incident, he became
open about his homosexuality.

Soon afterwards, Michael made a video for his
single "Outside" which was clearly based on the
public restroom incident and which featured men
dressed up as policemen kissing. Rodriguez, the
police officer, claimed that this video "mocked"
him, and also that Michael had slandered him in
interviews, and in 1999 filed a ten million dollar
lawsuit in California against the singer. The
court dismissed the case on the grounds related to
the officer's status as a kind of public official,
but an appeals court reinstated the case on
December 3, 2002.

George has often taken a public political stance.
George Michael sang as part of Band Aid
(band)|Band Aid on the charity song "Do They Know
It's Christmas?" for famine relief in Ethiopia and
Wham! played at Live Aid in 1985. In the 1980s,
George Michael was very critical of Margaret
Thatcher's Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative
government and its cruise missile alliance with
the United States. George said that he felt bad,
since through his taxes he was paying for these
weapons, yet was obliged to never dodge his tax
obligations to his home country.

In December 2004 Elton John stated in an interview
that he believed George Michael should 'get out
more'. As both John and Michael were openly gay
and had performed together on several occasions
many were surprised at the public spat. In an open
letter response Michael claimed he and Elton were
not good friends and that John had little
knowledge of his personal life other than what he
might glean from gossip.

==Future career==
George Michael announced that Patience will be the
last record on sale to the public. He told BBC
Radio 1 on March 10, 2004 that future music that
he puts out will be available for download with
fans encouraged to make a donation to charity. He
said: "I've been very well remunerated for my
talents over the years so I really don't need the
public's money. I'd like to have something on the
Internet which is a charitable download site where
anyone can download my music for free. I'll have
my favourite charities up there and people will
hopefully donate to that."

He states that the decision will put less pressure
to produce a new album every so often and allow
him to have more of a private life with his
partner Kenny Goss.

George Michael ranks as Britain's 10th richest
musician with an amassed personal fortune said to
be between at 65 million pounds to over 100
million pounds in assets, real estate and
currency. George owns several homes all over the
world, including one in London and one in Texas.

==Discography==
===Albums===
*As part of Wham!
**Fantastic (album)|Fantastic (1983) #1 UK, #83 US
(Gold in the US)
**Make It Big (1984) #1 UK, #1 US (6x Platinum in
the US)
**Music From The Edge of Heaven (1986) #10 US
(Platinum in the US)
**The Final (1986) (compilation) #2 UK
**If You Were There (The Best of Wham) (1997) #4
UK

*As a solo artist
**1987 Faith (George Michael album)|Faith (#1 UK,
#1 US) (10x Platinum in the US) (Sales: 20 mil.)
**1990 Listen without Prejudice, Vol. 1 (#1 UK, #2
US) (2x Platinum in the US) (Sales: 10 mil.)
**1992 Five live (with Queen (band)|Queen & Lisa
Stansfield) (#1 UK, #46 US) (Sales: 5 mil.)
**1996 Older (#1 UK, #6 US) (Platinum in the US)
(Sales: 6 mil.)
**1998 Ladies & Gentlemen (Best Of George Michael)
(#1 UK, #24 US) (2x Platinum in the US) (Sales: 4
mil.)
**1999 Songs from the Last Century (#2 UK, #157
US) (Oro in the US)
**2004 Patience (2004 album)|Patience (#1 UK, #12
US) (Gold in the US)

===Hit singles===
*from Fantastic!
**1982 "Young Guns (Go For It)" #3 UK
**1983 "Wham Rap" #8 UK
**1983 "Bad Boys" #2 UK
**1983 "Club Tropicana" #4 UK
*non-album single
**1983 "Club Fantastic Megamix" #15 UK
*from Make It Big
**1984 "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" #1 UK, #1 (3
weeks)US (Platinum in the US)
**1984 "Careless Whisper" (credited to George
Michael solo) #1 UK, #1 (3 weeks) US (Platinum in
the US)
**1984 "Freedom" #1 UK, #3 US (1985 release)
**1984 "Everything She Wants" #2 UK (double A-side
with Last Christmas in the UK), #1 (2 weeks) US
(1985 release) (Gold in the US)
*from Music from the Edge of Heaven
**1985 "I'm Your Man" #1 UK, #3 US
**1985 "Last Christmas" (re-issue) #6 UK
**1986 "The Edge of Heaven" #1 UK (double A-side
with Where Did Your Heart Go in the UK), #10 US
**1986 "A Different Corner" #1 UK, #7 US
*from Aretha (Aretha Franklin album)
**1987 "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (with
Aretha Franklin) #1 (2 weeks) US, #1 UK
*from Faith
**1987 "I Want Your Sex" #3 UK, #2 US (Platinum in
the US)
**1987 "Faith" #2 UK, #1 (4 weeks) US (Gold in the
US)
**1988 "Father Figure" #11 UK, #1 (2 weeks) US
**1988 "One More Try" #8 UK, #1 (3 weeks) US (Gold
in the US)
**1988 "Monkey" #13 UK, #1 (2 weeks) US
**1988 "Kissing a Fool" #18 UK, #5 US
*from Listen without Prejudice, Vol. 1
**1990 "Praying for Time" #6 UK, #1 (1 week) US
**1990 "Waiting for That Day" #23 UK, #27 US
**1990 "Freedom! 90" #28 UK, #8 US (Gold in the
US)
**1991 "Heal the Pain" #31 UK
**1991 "Cowboys and Angels" #45 UK
*non-album single
**1991 "Don't Let the Sun Go down on Me" (with
Elton John) #1 UK, #1 (1 week) US (Gold in the US)
*from Red Hot + Dance various artists charity
album
**1992 "Too Funky" #4 UK, #10 US (Gold in the US)
*from Five Live EP
**1993 "Somebody to Love" #30 US
*from Older
**1996 "Jesus to a Child" #1 UK, #7 US (Gold in
the US)
**1996 "Fast Love" #1 UK, #8 US (Gold in the US)
**1996 "Spinning the Wheel" #2 UK
**1997 "Older/I Can't Make You Love Me" #3 UK
**1997 "Star People '97" #2 UK
*non-album single
**1997 "Waltz Away Dreaming" (Toby Bourke feat.
George Michael) #10 UK
*from Older
**1997 "You Have Been Loved/The Strangest Thing
'97" #2 UK
*from Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George
Michael
**1998 "Outside" #2 UK
**1999 "As" (with Mary J. Blige) #4 UK
*from Greatest Hits (Whitney Houston album)
**2000 "If I Told You That" (with Whitney Houston)
#9 UK
*from Patience
**2002 "Freeek!" #7 UK
**2002 "Shoot the Dog" #12 UK
**2004 "Amazing" #4 UK
**2004 "Flawless (Go to the City)" #8 UK
**2004 "Round Here" #32 UK

22 weeks @ #1
10 UK No. 1 Hits
10 US No. 1 Hits

==See also==
*Best selling music artists - World's top selling
music artists chart.
*List of number-one hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the Hot
100 (US)
*List of number-one dance hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US
Dance chart

==External links==
*http://www.aegean.net/ Official website
*http://www.george-michael.it George Michael Info
Net
*http://www.georgemichaelforums.com/index.php?refe
rrerid=2 George Michael Forums
*http://www.superfansdegeorgemichael.org/index.php
? Foro de Super Fans de George Michael en Español
*"http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/446721.
stm George Michael faces $10m lawsuit" - BBC News
article, dated Tuesday, September 14, 1999
*"http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/646004
.stm George Michael video case dismissed" - BBC
News article, by Peter Bowes, dated Thursday,
February 17, 2000
*"http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2542097
.stm Officer allowed to sue Michael" - BBC News
article, dated Wednesday, December 4, 2002
*"http://www.petitiononline.com/Faithful/petition.
html George Michael Fans Unite For Unreleased
Material" An Online Petition For George Michael
Fans, July 4, 2005
*http://www.yogworld.com/ Yours Only George