On Christmas Day 2016, the world lost a truly brilliant songwriter and entertainer. We know of that unique talent as George Michael.
As a gay man growing up in the 80s, I’d admired him not just for his music, but later for having the strength and courage to completely turn around the dark periods in his life and make them part of his art in a really uncompromising and sometimes humorous way.
His defiance with anyone who opposed his sexuality was a message of strength to the LGBTQ community.
When George’s ‘Outside’ single was released in 1998, he made his ‘lewd act’ arrest earlier that year the subject of his promo video. In the music short, we saw him performing the song in a public toilet amidst revolving disco urinals. It was a brilliantly bold way of making his ordeal creative and funny.
I remember seeing Wham! play a gig in Cornwall at the height of the band’s fame back in 1984. Andrew and George took playful to a new level, arriving on stage in badminton garb, stuffing shuttlecocks down their shorts and whacking them out into the crowd. The girls (and some of the boys) went wild, of course.
Two years later, after being clever enough to make blazingly infectious pop without taking themselves too seriously, Wham! cut their short lifespan as George embarked on a hugely successful solo career that resulted in both commercial and critical success which saw him sell over 100m records worldwide.
Like many millions of other fans, I was very upset over the news of the death of George Michael. Back in July 2012, I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon with him to chat about his recovery from pneumonia only the year before, and his ‘White Light’ single, which I still feel is hugely underrated.
Since that treasured day almost five years ago, I’ve told friends time and time again that chatting to George was my favourite interview in the twenty years of working in radio.
Despite his huge talent and influence on many other artists and fans worldwide, George was not only smart and talented, but charming and funny with it. There was no ego or cocky attitude. He was genuinely a very lovely man. Rest in peace, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.