Mourn in silence biography of george michael

Last Sunday, the world lost another music genius: George Michael, who sadly passed away at the age of 53 on Christmas Day at his home in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. According to his publicist, the Wham! singer died 'peacefully in his sleep.' But still the sudden demise left many of his fans, along with his fellow music industry friends such as Elton John, among others, in shock and mourning.

In a career that spanned over four decades, George Michael: who first shot to fame in 1984 as the lead singer of the pop music band Wham! has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Next, his venture as a solo artist went on to sell over 100 million albums with his debut album Faith sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Undoubtedly a music legend, George Michael has also played a major influence on fashion, culture and even politics that intertwined with his triumphant music career. Known as a gifted lyricist and songwriter as well as a charismatic performer, both on stage and behind the camera, his career has made a huge impact in the music industry. And we feel it’s only fitting to go over the five things that everyone needs to know about the pop icon’s milestone and his intriguing music career.

China Concert

While it’s unusual nowadays for any Hollywood artist to stage a concert in China, back in 1985 it was a challenge. At the height of their fame, Wham! Members George Michael and Andrew Ridgely took the stage in Beijing, China in a presence of massive police ensemble and a total silent audience. The duo sang their chart-topping hits, such as Careless Whisper and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go in front of 15,000 fans at the Workers Gymnasium, which since then has become legendary in the Mainland. The concert was regarded as the beginning of China’s “warming up” period to western music.

Risqué Track

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Roy Jurgens on

The George Michael whom I knew — from the distance of being a crew member on his historic “25 Live Tour” a decade ago — was not just a monumental talent, but kind and generous, always good for a cheeky laugh, with an abiding affection for the fans who smothered him but made him a pop idol.

Those fans were in mourning today with the news that Michael died at his home in Goring in Oxfordshire, England on Christmas Day. He was 53. His talents as a performer, songwriter and music producer led him to sell over 100 million albums over his career. While he made the successful transition from teen idol to serious performer, his career was dogged by drug arrests, lawsuits, sexual scandals and frequent periods of inactivity, which unfortunately often eclipsed his talents as an artist.

Born to a Cypriot restaurateur and English dancer in North London in 1963, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou’s life would forever change when he met Andrew Ridgeley, a fellow classmate in Hertfordshire. The two discovered a shared interest in music and formed Wham! in 1981. After an initial stumble, they hit pay dirt with “Young Guns (Go For It)” and followed that up with the worldwide hit “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Handsome and blessed with the ability to write confectionery pop songs, the duo took the world by storm. Following a string of smash singles, it was clear that Michael would set out on his own when “Careless Whisper” (co-written with Ridgeley) was released as a solo offering in 1984. In 1985, Wham! was the first Western act to play in the Peoples Republic of China. By 1986 the duo had run its course and called it quits.

The next year, Michael released “Faith,” which sold 25 million copies and topped the charts around the globe. While “I Want Your Sex,” “Father Figure” and the title track cemented him as a pop supersta

It was as he stepped onto a bus to take him from his day job as an usher at a Watford cinema to his night job as a restaurant DJ that the melody came to him. He sat at the back of the bus and started jotting down lyrics inspired by his break-up with a girlfriend. Just six words became one of the great lines of popular music: ‘Guilty feet have got no rhythm.’ It was 1981 and George Michael was still only 17.

Born Georgios Panayiotou, he was the third child and only son of a Greek Cypriot father, Jack, and a British mother, Lesley. Growing up in London and Hertfordshire, his principal interest was nature until one day he fell down the staircase at school when he was running for lunch. He told Greek television: ‘I had a very bad fall, cracked my head and, in the year subsequent to the accident, not only my interests but my abilities seemed to change. Before the accident, I was very interested in nature and biology. But after the accident, literally within two weeks I brought home a violin – unfortunately a violin – and within months was obsessed with music.’

At secondary school, he met Andrew Ridgeley, who shared his love of music, and they became determined to make it in the business. But Careless Whisper, the song George wrote on the bus, wasn’t suitable for them. They needed tracks that showcased them as the fun-loving soul boys they were.

One evening at a club, Andrew was bopping about, showing off, when he started exclaiming: ‘Wham! Bam! I’m the Man’ and doing a rap. It gave George the idea for a song that became Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do).

The pair then came up with the band name Wham!, hired a portable studio and recorded Wham Rap!, Club Tropicana and Careless Whisper at Andrew’s p