 George Michael, was an English singer, songwriter, record producer and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo WAM. He was best known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including hit singles such as Wake Me Up Before You Go Go and Last Christmas, an album such as Faith, 1987, and Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1-1990. Michael sold more than 100 million records worldwide. His debut solo album, Faith, sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Michael achieved seven number-one singles in the UK and eight number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, including Careless Whisper and Praying for Time. He ranks among the best-selling British acts of all time, and in 2008 he was ranked 40th on Billboard's list of the greatest Hot 100 artists of all time. Michael won various music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards he won Best British Male twice, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Ivernavello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations. Michael, who came out as gay in 1998, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and Hivades charity fundraiser. In 2004, the Radio Academy named Michael the most-played artist on British radio during the period 1984-2004. The documentary A Different Story, released in 2005, covered his career and personal life. Michael's first tour in 15 years, the Worldwide 25 Live Tour, spanned three tours over the course of three years, 2006, 2007, and 2008. In the early hours of December 25, 2016, Michael, aged 53, was found dead in bed at his Oxfordshire home. Early Life Michael was born in East Finchley on June 25, 1963. His father, Kiriakos Paniyotu, a Greek Cypriot restaurateur, had emigrated to Britain in the 1950s. Michael's mother, Leslie Angold, Nay Harrison, 1937-1997, was an English dancer, and his maternal grandmother was Jewish. Michael spent the majority of his childhood in Kingsbury, London, in the home his parents bought soon after his birth, he attended Kingsbury High School. His older sisters are Yida and Melanie. While he was in his early teens, the family moved to Radlett. There, Michael attended Bushy Meade's school in Bushy, where he befriended his future wham. Partner Andrew Ridgely The two had the same career ambition of being musicians. Michael busked on the London Underground, performing songs such as 39 by Queen. His involvement in the music business began with his working as a DJ, playing at clubs and local schools around Bushy, Stanmore and Watford. This was followed by the formation of a short-lived ska band called The Executive, with Ridgely, Ridgely's brother Paul, Andrew Lever and David Mortimer, later known as David Austin. Musical Career 1981-1986, Wham! Michael formed the duo Wham! With Andrew Ridgely in 1981. The band's first album Fantastic reached number one in the UK in 1983 and produced a series of top ten singles including Young Guns, Wham Rap, and Club Tropicana. Their second album, Make It Big, reached number one on the charts in the US. Singles from that album included Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, number one in the UK and US, Freedom, Everything She Wants, and Careless Whisper which reached number one in nearly 25 countries, including the UK and US, and was Michael's first solo effort as a single. Michael sang on the original Band Aid recording of Do They Know It's Christmas. Which became the UK Christmas number one, and donated the profits from Last Christmas Everything She Wants to Charity. He also contributed background vocals to David Cassidy's 1985 hit The Last Kiss, as well as Elton John's 1985 successes Nikita and Rap Her Up. Michael cited Cassidy as a major career influence and interviewed Cassidy for David Litchfield's Ritz newspaper. Wham! Its tour of China in April 1985, the first visit to China by a western popular music act, generated worldwide media coverage, much of it centered on Michael.Before Wham!'s appearance in China, many kinds of music in the country were forbidden.The audience included members of the Chinese government, and Chinese television presenter, Kinla Jun, who was the on-stage host, spoke of Wham!'s historic performance. No one had ever seen anything like that before. All the young people were amazed and everybody was tapping their feet. Of course the police weren't happy and they were scared there would be riots. The tour was documented by film director Lindsay Anderson and producer Martin Lewis in their film Foreign Skies, Wham! In China. With the success of Michael's solo singles, Careless Whisper, 1984, and A Different Corner, 1986, rumors of an impending breakup of Wham! Intensified. The duo officially separated in 1986, after releasing a farewell single, The Edge of Heaven and a singles compilation, The Final, plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium that included the world premiere of the China film. The Wham! Partnership ended officially with the commercially successful single The Edge of Heaven, which reached number one on the UK chart in June 1986. Solo career. 1987-1989, Faith. The beginning of his solo career, during early 1987, was a duet with Aretha Franklin. I knew you were waiting was a one-off project that helped Michael achieve an ambition by singing with one of his favorite artists, and it scored number one on both the UK singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 upon its release. For Michael, it became his third consecutive solo number one in the UK from three releases, after 1984's Careless Whisper, though the single was actually from the Wham! album Make It Big, and 1980's IXS A Different Corner. The single was also the first Michael had recorded as a solo artist which he had not written himself. The CEO writer, Simon Climy, was unknown at the time, he later had success as a performer with the band Climy Fisher in 1988. Michael and Aretha Franklin won a Grammy Award in 1988 for Best R&B Performance Duo or Group with Vocal for the Song. In late 1987, Michael released his debut solo album, Faith. The first single released from the album was I Want Your Sex, in mid-1987. The song was banned by many radio stations in the UK and US, due to its sexually suggestive lyrics. MTV broadcast the video, featuring celebrity makeup artist Kathy Jung in a Bask and Suspenders, only during the late night hours.Michael argued that the act was beautiful if the sex was monogamous, and he recorded a brief prologue for the video in which he said, This song is not about casual sex. One of the racier scenes involved Michael writing the words explore monogamy on his partner's back in lipstick. Some radio stations played a toned down version of the song, I Want Your Love, with the word love replacing sex. When I Want Your Sex reached the US charts, American Top 40 host Casey Kasem refused to say the song's title, referring to it only as the new single by George Michael. In the US, the song was also sometimes listed as I Want Your Sex, from Beverly Hills Cop 2 since the song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie. Despite censorship and radio play problems, I Want Your Sex reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number three in the UK. The second single, Faith, was released in October 1987, a few weeks before the album. Faith became one of his most popular songs. The song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US for four consecutive weeks. It also reached number two in the UK singles chart.The video provided some definitive images of the 1980s music industry in the process Michael and Shades, Leather Jacket, Cowboy Boots and Levi's Jeans, playing a guitar near a classic design jukebox. On October 30, Faith was released in the UK and in several markets worldwide Faith topped the UK albums chart, and in the US, the album had 51 non-consecutive weeks in the top 10 of Billboard 200, including 12 weeks at number one. Faith had many successes, with four singles, Faith, father figure, one more try, and monkey, reaching number one in the US. Faith was certified diamond by the RIAA for sales of 10 million copies in the US. To date, global sales of Faith are more than 25 million units. The album was highly acclaimed by music critics, with all music journalist Steve Huey describing it as a superbly crafted mainstream pop rock masterpiece and one of the finest pop albums of the 80s. In a review by Rolling Stone magazine, journalist Mark Coleman commended most of the songs on the album, which he said displays Michael's intuitive understanding of pop music and his increasingly intelligent use of his power to communicate to an ever-growing audience. In 1988, Michael embarked on a world tour. In Los Angeles, Michael was joined on stage by Aretha Franklin for I Knew You Were Waiting. It was the second highest-grossing event of 1988, earning $17.7 million. In February 1989, Faith won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 31st Grammy Awards. At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards on September 6 in Los Angeles, Michael received the Video Vanguard Award. According to Michael in his film, A Different Story, success did not make him happy and he started to think there was something wrong in being an idol for millions of teenage girls. The whole Faith process, promotion, videos, tour, awards, left him exhausted, lonely and frustrated, and far from his friends and family. In 1990, he told his record company Sony that, for his second album, he did not want to do promotions like the one for Faith. 1990-1992, Listen Without Prejudice Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 was released in September 1990. For this album, Michael tried to create a new reputation as a serious-minded artist, the title is an indication of his desire to be taken more seriously as a songwriter. Michael refused to do any promotion for this album, including no music videos for the singles released.The first single, Praying for Time, with lyrics concerning social ills and injustice, was released in August 1990. James Hunter of Rolling Stone magazine described the song as a distraught look at the world's astounding woundedness. Michael offers the healing passage of time as the only bomb for physical and emotional hunger, poverty, hypocrisy and hatred. The song was an instant success, reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 in the UKA video was released shortly thereafter, consisting of the lyrics on a dark background. Michael did not appear in this video or any subsequent videos for the album. The second single waiting for that day was an acoustic heavy single, released as an immediate follow-up to Praying for Time. It reached No. 23 in the UKand No. 27 in the US.In October 1990. The album was released in Europe on September 3, 1990, and one week later in the US. It reached No. 1 in the UK albums cartand peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200.It spent a total of 88 weeks on the UK albums chart and was certified four times platinum by the BPI. The album produced five UK singles, which were released quickly, within an at-eight-month period, Praying for Time, Waiting for that Day, Freedom, 90, Heal the Pain, and Cowboys and Angels, the latter being his only single not to chart in the UK Top 40. Freedom 90 was the second of only two of its singles to be supported by a music video, the other being the Michael Les Praying for Time.The song alludes to his struggles with his artistic identity, and prophesied his efforts shortly thereafter to end his recording contract with Sony Music. As if to prove the song's sentiment, Michael refused to appear in the video, directed by David Fincher, and instead recruited supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Kristi Tirlington, Tajina Patties, and Cindy Crawford to appear in and lip-sync in his stead. It also featured the reduction of his sex symbol status. It had a No. 8 success on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and No. 28 on the UK singles chart. Mother's Pride gained significant radio play in the US during the First Persian Gulf War during 1991, often with radio stations mixing in callers' tributes to soldiers with the music. It reached No. 46 on Billboard Hot 100 with only airplay.In the end, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 sold approximately 8 million copies. At the 1991 Brit Awards, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 won the award for Best British Album. Later in 1991, Michael embarked on the cover-to-cover tour in Japan, England, the US, and Brazil, where he performed at Rock in Rio. In the audience in Rio, he saw and later met Anselmo Felipa, who later became his partner.The tour was not a proper promotion for Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. Rather, it was more about Michael singing his favourite cover songs.Among his favourites was Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, a 1974 song by Elton John, Michael and John had performed the song together at the Live Aid concert in 1985, and again for Michael's concert at London's Wembley Arena on March 25, 1991, where the duet was recorded. The single was released at the end of 1991 and reached No. 1 in both the UK and US. In the meantime, the expected follow-up album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2 was scrapped due to Michael's lawsuit with Sony. Michael complained that Sony had not completely supported the release of his second album, resulting in its poor performance in the US as compared to faith. Sony responded that Michael's refusal to appear in promotional videos had caused the bad response. Michael ended the idea for Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2 and donated three songs to the charity project Red Hot and Dance, for the Red Hot organization which raised money for AIDS awareness, a fourth track Craze I'm in Dance was the b-side of 1992's Two Funky. Michael donated the royalties from Two Funky to the same cause. Two Funky reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Cartand No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100.It did not appear on any George Michael studio album, but was included on his solo collections Ladies and Gentlemen, the Best of George Michael in 1998 and 2005 in 2006. The video featured Michael, sporadically, as a director filming supermodels Linda Evangelista, Beverly Peel, Tyra Banks, Estelle Lefebure and Nadia Ourman at a fashion show. 1993, 5 Live. Michael performed at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert on April 20, 1992 at London's Wembley Stadium. The concert was a tribute to the life of the late Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury, with the proceeds going to AIDS research. In his last ever radio interview Mercury had praised Michael adding that he loved his track Faith.Michael performed 39, these are the days of our lives with Lisa Stansfield and Somebody to Love. The performance of the latter was released on the 5 Live EP. 5 Live, released in 1993 for Parlo Phone in the UK and Hollywood Records in the US, features five and in some countries, six tracks performed by Michael, Queen and Lisa Stansfield. Somebody to Love and these are the days of our lives were recorded at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. Killer, Papa was a Rollin' Stone, and Calling You were all live performances recorded during his cover to cover tour from 1991. Michael's performance of Somebody to Love was hailed as one of the best performances of the tribute concert. All proceeds from the sale of the EP benefited the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Sales of the EP were very strong through Europe, where it debuted at number one in the UK and several European countries.Chart success in the US was less spectacular, where it reached number 40 on the Billboard 200, Somebody to Love reached number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100. 1994-1997, Older During November 1994, after a long period of seclusion, Michael appeared at the first MTV Europe Music Awards show, where he gave a performance of a brand new song, Jesus to a Child. The song was a melancholy tribute to his lover, Anselmo Felipa, who had died in March 1993. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number one and number seven on Billboard in the same month of release.T was Michael's longest UK top 40 single, at almost seven minutes long. The exact identity of the song's subject and the nature of Michael's relationship with Felipa was shrouded in innuendo and speculation, as Michael had not confirmed he was homosexual and did not do so until 1998. The video for Jesus to a Child was a picture of images recalling loss, pain and suffering. Michael consistently dedicated the song to Felipa before performing It Live. The second single, released in April 1996, was Fast Love, an energetic tune about wanting gratification and fulfillment without commitment. The song did not have a chorus and the single version was nearly five minutes long. Fast Love was supported by a futuristic virtual reality related video. It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top spot.In the US, Fast Love peaked at number eight, his most recent single to reach the top ten on the US charts.Following Fast Love, Michael released older, his first studio album in six years and only the third in his ten-year solo career. The album's US and Canada release was the first album released by David Jeffins, now defunct, Dreamworks Records. Older was particularly notable for the release of its six singles. Each of them reached the UK top three, a record for the most singles in the British top three released from a single album. At the time of release of the album's fifth single, Star People 97, chart specialist James Masterton noted Michael's success on the singles charts, writing, George Michael nonetheless makes an impressive top three entry with this single. The older album has now proved itself to be far and away his most commercially successful recording ever. Five singles now lifted and every single one has been a top three hit. Compare this with the two top three hits produced by Faith and Listen Without Prejudice as scant total of one top tenor and one single which missed the top 40 altogether. This sustained single success has been achieved with a little help from marketing tricks such as remixes or in this case a new recording of the album track which gives it a much needed transformation into a deserved commercial smash. In 1996, Michael was voted best British male, at the MTV Europe Music Awards and the Brit Awards, and at the British Academy's Ivernavello Awards, he was awarded the title of songwriter of the year for the third time.Michael performed a concert at Three Mills Studios, London, for MTV Unplugged. It was his first long performance in years, and in the audience was Michael's mother. The next year, she died of cancer. 1998, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best of George Michael Ladies and gentlemen, The Best of George Michael was Michael's first solo greatest hits collection released in 1998. The collection of 28 songs, 29 songs are included on the European and Australian release, are separated into two halves, with each containing a particular theme and mood. The first CD, titled For the Heart, predominantly contains ballads, the second CD, For the Feet, consists mainly of dance tunes. It was released through Sony Music Entertainment as a condition of severing contractual ties with the label. Ladies and gentlemen was a success, peaking at number one on the UK albums chart for eight weeks.It has spent over 200 weeks in the UK charts, and is the 38th best-selling album of all time in the UK. It is certified seven times platinum in the United Kingdom and multi-platinum in the United States, and is Michael's most commercially successful album in his homeland having sold more than 2.8 million copies. To date, the album has reached worldwide sales of approximately 15 million copies. The first single of the album, Outside was a humorous song making a reference to his arrest for soliciting a policeman in a public toilet. As, his duet with Mary J. Bleige, was released as the second single in many territories around the world. Both singles reached the top five in the UK singles chart. 1999, Songs from the Last Century Songs from the Last Century is a studio album of cover tracks. It was released in 1999 and was Michael's penultimate album released through Virgin Records. To date, the album has peaked the lowest of his solo effort. The album debuted at number 157 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart, which was also the album's peak position.It was also his lowest charting album in the UK, becoming his only solo effort not to reach number one. It peaked at number two in the UK albums chart.Each of the eleven tracks was co-produced by Phil Ramone and Michael. 2000, 2005, Patience In 2000, Michael worked on the hit single If I Told You That with Whitney Houston, a song which was meant to feature Michael Jackson, initially. Michael C.O. produced on the single along with American producer Rodney Jerkins. Michael began working on what became his fifth studio album, spending two years in the recording studio. His first single Freak, taken from the new album, was successful in Europe going to number one in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Denmark in 2002 and reaching the top ten in the UK and the top five in Australia. It made 22 charts around the world. However, his next single Shoot the Dog proved to be highly controversial when released in July 2002. It was highly critical of George W. Bush and Tony Blair in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It reached number one in Denmark and made the top five in most European charts. However, in Britain it peaked at only number twelve in the UK singles chart. In February 2003, Michael unexpectedly recorded another song in protest against the looming Iraq war, Don McLean's The Grave. The original was written by McLean in 1971 and was a protest against the Vietnam War. Michael performed the song on numerous TV shows including Top of the Pops and So Graham Norton. His performance of the song on Top of the Pops on March 7, 2003 was his first studio appearance on the programme since 1986. He ran into conflict with the show's producers for an anti-war, anti-blair T-shirt worn by some members of his band. In response, Don McLean issued a statement, through his website, praising Michael's recording, I am proud of George Michael for standing up for life and sanity. I am delighted that he chose a song of mine to express these feelings. We must remember that the wizard is really a cowardly old man hiding behind a curtain with a loud microphone. It takes courage and a song to pull the curtain open and expose him. Good luck George. On November 17, 2003, Michael re-signed with Sony Music, the company he had left in 1995 after a legal battle. When Michael's fifth studio album, Patience, was released in 2004, it was critically acclaimed and went straight to number one on the UK albums chart and became one of the fastest-selling albums in the UK, selling over 200,000 copies in the first week alone. In Australia it reached number two on March 22. It reached the top five on most European charts, and peaked at number twelve in the United States, selling over 500,000 copies to earn a gold certification from the RIAA. Amazing, the third single from the album, became a number one hit in Europe. When Michael appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show on May 26, 2004, to promote the album, he performed amazing, along with his classic songs Father Figure and Faith. On the show Michael spoke of his arrest, revealing his homosexuality, and his resumption of public performances. He allowed Oprah's crew inside his home outside London. The fourth single taken off the album was Flawless, which used the sample of the one's original dance hit Flawless. It was a dance hit in Europe as well as North America, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club play and became Michael's last number one single on the United States dance chart. In November 2004, Sony released the fifth single round here. It was the least successful single taken from patients when it stalled the UK charts at No 32.In 2005, John and Elvis Are Dead was released as the sixth and final single from the album, it was released as a download single and was therefore unable to chart in the United Kingdom. Michael told BBC Radio One on March 10, 2004 that future music that he puts out would be available for download, with fans encouraged to make a donation to charity. 2005-2010, 25 and Concert Tours. 25 was Michael's second greatest hits album, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his music career. Released in November 2006 by Sony BMG, it debuted at number one in the UK. The album contains songs chiefly from Michael's solo career but also from his earlier days in WAM. It comes in two formats, two CDs or a limited edition 3 CD set. The two CD set contain 26 tracks, including four recorded with WAM. And three new songs, an easier affair, This Is Not Real Love, a duet with Mute Ibuena, formerly of Sugar Babes, which peaked at number 15 in the UK charts, and a new version of Heal the Pain recorded with Paul McCartney. The limited edition 3 CD version contains an additional 14 lesser known tracks including one from WAM. And another completely new song, Understand. 25 was released in North America on April 1, 2008 as a 29 song, two CD set featuring several new songs, including duets with Paul McCartney and Mary J. Bleach in a song from the short-lived TV series Eli Stone, in addition to many of Michael's successful songs from both his solo and WAM. Career To commemorate the 25 album, Michael toured North America for the first time in 17 years, playing large venues in major cities including New York, Los Angeles, St. Paul Minneapolis, Tampa ST, Pete, Chicago and Dallas. The DVD version of 25 contains 40 videos on two discs, including seven with WAM. During the 2005 Live 8 concert at Hyde Park London, Michael joined Paul McCartney on stage, harmonizing on the Beatles classic Drive My Car. In 2006, Michael started his first tour in 15 years, 25 live. The tour began in Barcelona, Spain on September 23 and finished in December at Wembley Arena in England. According to his website, the 80 show tour was seen by 1.3 million fans. On May 12, 2007 in Quimbra, Portugal, he began the European 25 live stadium tour 2007, including London and Athens, and ending on August 4, 2007 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There were 29 tour dates, as of April 21, 2007, across Europe. On June 9, 2007 Michael became the first artist to perform live at the newly renovated Wembley Stadium in London, where he was later fined £130,000 for overrunning the programme for 13 minutes. On March 25, 2008, a third part of the 25 live tour was announced for North America. This part included 21 dates in the United States and Canada. This was Michael's first tour of North America in 17 years. Following news of Michael's North American tour, 25 was released in North America on April 1, 2008 as a 29 song, two CDs set featuring several new songs, including duets with Paul McCartney and Mary J. Bleach and a song from the short-lived TV series, Eli Stone, in addition to many of Michael's successful songs from both his solo and wham. Career Michael made his American acting debut by playing a guardian angel to Johnny Lee Miller's character on Eli Stone, a US TV series. In addition to performing on the show as himself and as Visions, each episode of the show's first season was named after a song of his. Michael appeared on the 2008 finale show of American Idol on May 21 singing Praying for Time. When asked what he thought Simon Cowell would say of his performance, he replied I think he'll probably tell me I shouldn't have done a George Michael song. He's told plenty of people that in the past, so I think that'd be quite funny. On December 1, Michael performed in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, as part of the 37th National Day celebrations. On December 25, 2008, Michael released a new track December Song on his website for free. It was hoped that fans who downloaded the song would donate money to charity. Though the song is not available anymore on his website, it remains available on file-sharing networks and a remastered version of December Song went on sale on December 13. The popularity of the single was boosted by a promotional appearance that Michael made on The X Factor. In early 2010, Michael performed his first concerts in Australia since 1988. On February 20, 2010, Michael performed his first show in Perth at the Burswood Dome to an audience of 15,000. On March 2, 2011, Michael announced the release of his cover version of New Order's 1987 hit True Faith in aid of the UK charity Telethon Comic Relief. Michael also appeared on Comic Relief itself, featuring in the first carpool karaoke sketch of James Corden, with the pair singing songs while Corden drove around London. On April 15, 2011, Michael released a cover of Stevie Wonder's 1972 song, You and I, as an MP3 gift to Prince William and Catherine Middleton on the occasion of their wedding on April 29, 2011. Although the MP3 was released for free download, Michael appealed to those who downloaded the track to make a contribution to the Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund. 2011-2016, Symphonica and Concert Tours, Freedom Documentary The Symphonica tour began at the Prague State Opera House on August 22, 2011. In October 2011, Michael was announced as one of the final nominees for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In November, he had to cancel the remainder of the tour as he became severely ill with pneumonia in Vienna, Austria. In February 2012, two months after leaving hospital, Michael made a surprise appearance at the 2012 Brit Awards at London's O2 Arena, where he received a standing ovation, and presented Adele the award for Best British Album. Symphonica was released on March 17, 2014, and became Michael's seventh solo number-one album in the UK, and ninth overall including his WAM. Charitoppers The album was produced by Phil Ramone, his last production credit, and Michael. On November 2, 2016, Michael's management team announced that a second documentary on his life, entitled Freedom, was set to be released in March 2017. A month after, English songwriter Naughty Boy confirmed plans to collaborate with Michael. However, because of interference with the announcement of Michael's death just a few weeks after it is unknown where the project stands today. Personal Life Sexuality Michael stated that his early fantasies were about women, which led me to believe I was on the path to heterosexuality, but at puberty he started to fantasize about men, which he later said had something to do with my environment. At the age of 19, Michael told Andrew Ridgely and close friends that he was bisexual. Michael also told one of his two sisters, but he was advised by friends not to tell his parents about his sexuality.In a 1999 interview with the advocate, Michael told the editor-in-chief, Judy Weeder, that it was falling in love with a man that ended his conflict over bisexuality. I never had a moral problem with being gay, Michael told her. I thought I had fallen in love with a woman a couple of times. Then I fell in love with a man, and realized that none of those things had been love. In 2004 Michael said I used to sleep with women quite a lot in the wham. Days but never felt it could develop into a relationship because I knew that, emotionally, I was a gay man. I didn't want to commit to them but I was attracted to them. Then I became ashamed that I might be using them. I decided I had to stop, which I did when I began to worry about AIDS, which was becoming prevalent in Britain. Although I had always had safe sex, I didn't want to sleep with a woman without telling her I was bisexual. I felt that would be irresponsible. Basically, I didn't want to have that uncomfortable conversation that might ruin the moment, so I stopped sleeping with them. In the same interview, he added, If I wasn't with Kenny his boyfriend at the time, I would have sex with women, no question. He said he believed that the formation of his sexuality was a nurture thing, via the absence of my father who was always busy working. It meant I was exceptionally close to my mother, though he stated that there are definitely those who have a predisposition to being gay in which the environment is irrelevant. In 2007 Michael said he had hidden the fact he was gay because of worries over what effect it might have on his mother. In 2009 Michael said, My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realize I was gay, not bisexual. Relationships During the late 1980s, Michael had a relationship with Chinese-American makeup artist Cathy Zhang, who was regarded for a time as his artistic muse and who appeared in the I Want Your Sex video. Michael later said that she had been his only bona fide girlfriend, and that she knew of his bisexuality.In 2016, Zhang reacted to Michael's death by calling him a true friend with whom she had spent some of the best time of her life. In 1993 he established a relationship with Ancelmo Felipa, a Brazilian dress designer, whom he had met at the 1991 concert Rock in Rio. Six months into their relationship, Felipa discovered that he was HIV positive. Michael later said, It was terrifying news. I thought I could have the disease too. I couldn't go through it with my family because I didn't know how to share it with them they didn't even know I was gay. In 1993, Felipa died of an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage. Michael's single, Jesus to a Child, is a tribute to Felipa, Michael consistently dedicated it to him before performing It Live, as is his album Older, 1996. In 2008, speaking about the loss of his partner Felipa, Michael said, It was a terribly depressing time. It took about three years to grieve, then after that I lost my mother. I felt almost like I was cursed. In 1996, Michael entered into a long-term relationship with Kenny Goss, a former flight attendant, cheerleader coach, and sportswear executive from Dallas. They had homes in Dallas, a 16th-century house in Goring on Thames, Oxfordshire, and an £8 million mansion in Highgate, north London.In late November 2005, it was reported that Michael and Goss planned to register their relationship as a civil partnership in the UK, but because of negative publicity in his upcoming tour, they postponed it. On August 22, 2011, the opening night of his Symphonica World tour, Michael announced that he and Goss had split two years earlier. Since 2012, Michael had been in a relationship with Fadi Fawaz, an Australian celebrity hairstylist and a freelance photographer of Lebanese descent based in London. It was Fawaz who found Michael's body on Christmas morning 2016. Arrests Questions of Michael's sexual orientation persisted until April 7, 1998, when he was arrested for engaging in a lewd act in a public restroom of the Will Rogers Memorial Park, in Beverly Hills, California. In 2007, Michael said that hiding his sexuality made him feel fraudulent, and his eventual outing, when he was arrested, in 1998, was a subconsciously deliberate act. Michael was arrested by an undercover policeman named Marcelo Rodriguez, in a sting operation using so-called Pretty Police. In an MTV interview, Michael stated, I got followed into the restroom and then this cop I didn't know it was a cop, obviously he started playing this game, which I think is called, I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm going to Nick arrest you. After pleading no contest to the charge, Michael was fined $810 U.S. dollars and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. Soon afterwards, Michael made a video for his single Outside, which satirised the public toilet incident and featured men dressed as policeman kissing. Rodriguez claimed that this video mocked him, and that Michael had slandered him in interviews. In 1999, he brought a $10 million U.S. dollar court case in California against the singer. The court dismissed the case, but an appellate court reinstated it on December 3, 2002. The court then ruled Rodriguez, as a public official, could not legally recover damages for emotional distress. On July 23, 2006, Michael was again accused of engaging in anonymous public sex, this time at London's Hampstead Heath. The anonymous partner was incorrectly stated to be a 58-year-old unemployed van driver. Michael stated that he cruised for anonymous sex and that this was not an issue in his relationship with partner Kenny Goss. Drugs In February 2006 Michael was arrested for possession of Class C drugs, an incident that he described as �my own stupid fault, as usual.� He was cautioned by the police and released. In 2007 Michael pleaded guilty to drug-impaired driving after obstructing the road at traffic lights in Cricklewood, in northwest London and was subsequently banned from driving for two years and sentenced to community service. During September 2007, on Desert Island Discs, he said that his cannabis use was a problem, he wished he could smoke less of it and was constantly trying to do so. On September 19, 2008, Michael was arrested in a public toilet in the Hampstead Heath area of London for possession of Class A and C drugs. He was taken to the police station and cautioned for controlled substance possession. On December 5, 2009, in an interview with The Guardian, Michael explained he had cut back on cannabis and now smoked only 7 or 8 spliffs per day instead of the 25 he used to smoke. In the early hours of Sunday July 4, 2010 Michael was returning from the Gay Pride Parade. The singer was spotted on CCTV crashing his car into the front of a Snappy Snaps store in Hampstead, North London and was arrested on suspicion of being unfit to drive. On August 12, London's Metropolitan Police said he was charged with possession of cannabis and with driving while unfit through drink or drugs. It was reported that Michael had also been taking the prescription medication Amitriptyline. On August 24, 2010, the singer pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court in London after admitting driving under the influence of drugs and on September 14, 2010 at the same court, was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, a fine, and a five-year ban from driving. Michael was released from Highpoint Prison in Suffolk on October 11, 2010, after serving four weeks. Politics During the time of Margaret Thatcher as the conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom throughout the 1980s, Michael voted Labour.In 2000, Michael joined Melissa Etheridge, Garth Brooks, Queen Latifa, the Pet Shop Boys, and K. D. Lang, to perform in Washington, D.C. as part of Equality Rocks, a concert to benefit the Human Rights Campaign, an American LGBT rights group. His 2002 single shoot The Dog was critical of the friendly relationship between the British and American governments, in particular Tony Blair and George W. Bush, with their involvement in the Iraq war.Michael voiced his concern about the lack of public consultation in the UK regarding the war on terror, on an issue as enormous as the possible bombing of Iraq, how can you represent us when you haven't asked us what we think. In 2006, Michael performed a free concert for NHS nurses in London to thank the nurses who had cared for his late mother.He told the audience, Thank you for everything you do some people appreciate it. Now if we can only get the government to do the same thing. In 2007, Michael sent the £1.45 million piano that John Lennon used to write Imagine Around the US on a peace tour, displaying at places where violence had taken place, such as Dallas's Dealey Plaza, where US President John F. Kennedy was shot. He devoted his 2007 concert in Sofia, from his 25 tour to the Bulgarian nurses prosecuted in the HIV trial in Libya. On June 17, 2008, Michael said he was thrilled by California's legalization of same-sex marriage, calling the move way overdue. Philanthropy. In November 1984, Michael joined other British and Irish pop stars of the era and formed Band Aid, singing on the charity song Do They Know It's Christmas, for famine relief in Ethiopia. This single became the UK Christmas number one in December 1984, holding Michael's own song, Last Christmas by Wham, at No 2. Do They Know It's Christmas, sold 3.75 million copies in the UK and became the biggest-selling single in UK chart history, a title it held until 1997 when it was overtaken by Elton John's Candle in the Wind 1997, released in tribute to Princess Diana following her death, Michael attended Diana's funeral with Elton John. Michael donated the royalties from Last Christmas to Band Aid and subsequently sang with Elton John at Live Aid, the Band Aid charity concert, in 1985. In 1986, Michael took part in the Princess Trust charity concert held at Wembley Arena, performing every time you go away alongside Paul Young. In 1988, Michael participated in the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday tribute at Wembley Stadium in London together with many other singers, such as Annie Lennox and Sting, performing sexual healing. ALGBT rights campaigner and Hivades charity fundraiser, the proceeds from the 1991 single Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me were divided among ten different charities for children, AIDS and education. He was also a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Michael wore a red ribbon at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in 1992. In 2003, he paired up with Ronan Keating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and won £32,000, after having their original £64,000 winnings halved by missing the £125,000 question. The same year, Michael joined other celebrities to support a campaign to help raise £20 million for terminally ill children run by the Rainbow Trust children's charity of which he was a patron. He said, �Loss is such an incredibly difficult thing. I bow down to people who actually have to deal with the loss of a child.� Following his death, many charities revealed that Michael had privately been a supporter of them for many years. Dame Esther Ranson, the founder and president of Childline, said he had given them millions over the years and said that he had given the royalties from his 1996 number one single Jesus to a child to the charity. He had supported the Terence Higgins Trust for many years as well as Macmillan Cancer Support.Michael also donated to individuals, he reportedly called the production team of the quiz show �Deal or No Deal� after a contestant had revealed that she needed £15,000 to fund IVF treatment. An anonymously paid for the treatment personally and once tipped a student nurse working as a barmaid £5,000, $6,121, because she was in debt. On January 3, 2017 another woman came forward and, with the permission of Michael's family, revealed he had anonymously paid for her IVF treatment after seeing her talk about her problems conceiving on an episode of This Morning in 2010. The woman gave birth to a girl in 2012. Assets Between 2006 and 2008, according to reports, Michael earned £48.5 million, $97 million, from the 25 live tour alone. In July 2014, he was reported to have been a celebrity investor in a tax avoidance scheme called Liberty. According to the Sunday Times-Rich List 2015 of the wealthiest British musicians, Michael was worth £105 million. Memoirs In 1991, Michael released an autobiography through Penguin Books titled Bear, co-written with Tony Parsons. Health Problems On October 26, 2011, Michael cancelled a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall due to a viral infection. On November 21, Vienna General Hospital admitted Michael after he complained of chest pains while at a hotel two hours before his performance at a venue there for his symphonic attour. Michael appeared to be in good spirits and responded well to treatment following his admittance, but on November 25 hospital officials said that his condition had worsened overnight. This development led to cancellations and postponements of Michael's remaining 2011 performances, which had been scheduled mainly for the United Kingdom. The singer was later confirmed to have suffered from pneumonia and, until December 1, was in an intensive care unit. On December 21 the hospital discharged him. Michael told the press that the staff at the hospital had saved his life and that he would perform a free concert for them. While making the speech, he became emotional and breathless. During the speech, he also mentioned that he had undergone a tracheotomy. After waking from the coma, Michael had a temporary West Country accent, and there was concern he had developed foreign accent syndrome. On May 16, 2013, Michael sustained a head injury when he fell from his moving car on the M1 motorway, near St. Albans in Hertfordshire, and was airlifted to hospital. DEATH Michael died at his home in Goring on Thames, aged 53. He was found dead, lying in bed, by his partner Fadi Fawaz on Christmas morning, December 25, 2016. Cause of death was immediately determined, his manager Michael Lippmann conjectured that heart failure was the cause of death, and that Michael passed away peacefully. Fawaz described, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, finding the performer on Christmas morning, �I went round there to wake him up and he was just gone, lying peacefully in bed. We don�t know what happened yet.� Everything had been very complicated recently, but George was looking forward to Christmas, and so was I. On December 29 the postmortem was undertaken to determine the exact cause of death, but was inconclusive. Thames Valley police said that further tests would be carried out, but the results were unlikely to be known for several weeks. In its obituary of Michael, the BBC described him as �a pop superstar� and wrote, �Blessed with good looks and a fine singing voice, his stage presence made him a favorite on the live concert circuit as he matured from teen idol to long-term stardom. In addition to his partner Fadi Fawaz, he is survived by his father and two sisters. Awards and nominations Michael won numerous music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards winning Best British Male twice, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Iver Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations.