George Michael - The Life: 1963-2016

George Michael - The Life: 1963-2016
Author: Emily Herbert
Publisher: Kings Road Publishing
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2017-02-16
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1786064715

'I WENT THROUGH A LONG PERIOD WHERE I WAS AFRAID OF DOING THINGS I WANTED TO DO, AND YOU GET YOUR COURAGE BACK, WHICH IS WHAT'S IMPORTANT' – GEORGE MICHAEL Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, George Michael was raised in a family of Greek Cypriot immigrants in North London, and dreamed of stardom when he was a little boy. At just twelve years old he met Andrew Ridgeley and the two of them went on to achieve stunning success in the early 1980s with Wham!, creating music that remains popular to this day. Yet despite the enormous success of Wham!, George wanted more, and so set about recreating himself as a serious solo artist, reaching heights of even greater success. Ironically, however, even from the early days he was plagued with insecurity about his sexuality, which, combined with the calamity of losing his first lover to AIDS and his mother to cancer, plunged him into a lifelong struggle with drug addiction. He died, at the tragically early age of just fifty three, on Christmas Day 2016. George Michael's life and career brought him international fame, and his sudden and unexpected death shocked the world. His unrivalled popularity as an artist, however, and the music he made, have turned him into one of the immortal greats of pop music. As Emily Herbert shows in this new biography, his legacy is not just his music, but his many extraordinary, and often anonymous, acts of charity.

George Michael: Freedom

George Michael: Freedom
Author: David Nolan
Publisher: Carlton Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-01-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781780979793

This lavishly illustrated volume pays tribute to George Michael, the brilliant songwriter who went from teen idol to activist. When George Michael's death was announced on Christmas Day in 2016, the world mourned the loss of a huge talent who left us far too soon. Blessed with a dramatic, soulful voice, Michael was a charismatic pop star . . . and far more. With his keen social conscience, he worked tirelessly for charity, became a gay icon who fought for sexual rights and education, and took on the record industry and media. George Michael: Freedom tells his story, from the fun and sunshiny tunes of Wham to the dark lyricism of his solo work. Featuring informative and insightful text from a prominent music journalist and a variety of photographs from many of the best contemporary photographers--including rarely seen images and some taken during his final appearances--this beautiful tribute paints an intimate portrait of the world-famous musician.

George Michael's Faith

George Michael's Faith
Author: Matthew Horton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2022-05-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 150137799X

On Saturday, June 28, 1986, George Michael picked up his tasseled leather jacket, walked out of London's Wembley Stadium and cheerfully tore up five years of glittering pop history. He'd just disposed of Wham!, the band he'd formed with school friend Andrew Ridgeley when they were teenagers, and now, at 23, he knew he was all grown up. He just needed to convince everyone else. Faith is what happens when you've outstripped your dreams, your peers, your friends and your fans, and no one's caught up yet. It's about pouring all of that confusion, insecurity and sizzling ambition into music that comes out confused, insecure and ambitious – and then selling 25 million copies of it. George Michael was always preparing for this and, in the process, he set a template for all disaffected singers making that move. This book examines that model and the themes that went into Faith – from engaging in politics to crossing over to a Black audience and writing classic pop songs to endure – and speaks to the surviving key players to tell the story of how it was made.

George Michael

George Michael
Author: Rob Jovanovic
Publisher: Piatkus
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2015-12-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0349411247

George Michael is an enigma. While he is one of the most open and vocal pop superstars on the planet, he also fiercely protective of his privacy. From the formation of Wham! In 1981 he immediately found fame and fortune beyond his wildest dreams. His music formed the soundtrack to the 1980s and he achieved all of this despite growing up in a dysfunctional family where his father openly proclaimed that George had no talent. Wham! split in 1986 but Michael went on to greater things as a solo artist. Along the way he has been embroiled in several controversies, but in refreshing contrast to other superstars, he has been happy to address his issues head-on in the media. Rob Jovanovic's biography tackles all the issues that formed George Michael and his place as a cultural icon. It also, for the first time, analyses Michael's musical output and groundbreaking videos.

Bare

Bare
Author: George Michael
Publisher:
Total Pages: 242
Release: 1991
Genre: Rock musicians
ISBN: 9780140132359

George Michael is one of the world's top pop music vocalists. This book tells how the boy from a working class background made it to the top of the music charts in countries all over the world. It tells the story of George's involvement with the group Wham and of the $3 million deal with the Coca Cola company. George's songs, his music, his craft as well as his family, friends and life on and off the road are all included. His observations amd comments on other musical stars are also quoted.

George Michael

George Michael
Author: James Gavin
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 475
Release: 2022-06-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1647006732

In George Michael: A Life,“Gavin’s engrossing biography of the singer takes the measure of a gifted, tragic, and infuriating man” (New York Times Book Review). George Michael was an extravagantly gifted, openhearted soul singer whose work was both pained and smolderingly erotic. He was a songwriter of true craft and substance, and his music swept the world, starting in the mid-1980s. His fabricated image—that of a hypermacho sex god—loomed large in the pop culture of his day. It also hid—for a time—the secret he fought against revealing: Michael was gay. Soon his obsession with fame would start to backfire. As one of the industry’s most privileged yet tortured men began to self-destruct, the press showed little sympathy. George Michael: A Life explores the compelling story of a superstar whose struggles, as well as his songs, continue to touch fans all over the world. Acclaimed music biographer James Gavin traces Michael’s metamorphosis from the shy and awkward Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou into the swaggering, dominant half of the leading British pop duo of the 1980s Wham! He then details Michael’s sensational solo career and its subsequent unraveling. With deep analysis of the creative process behind Michael’s albums, tours, and music videos, as well as interviews with hundreds of his friends and colleagues, George Michael: A Life is a probing, definitive portrait of a pop legend.

Wham! George & Me

Wham! George & Me
Author: Andrew Ridgeley
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2019-10-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0241385830

It's that time of year again . . . Turn up 'Last Christmas', get the mince pies out and head back to the 80s in the remarkably honest and fascinating autobiography from one half of the world's greatest pop duo THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'I couldn't put it down. Such a fantastic book' Chris Evans, Virgin Radio ________ School mates. Band mates. Soul mates . . . When Andrew Ridgley took George Michael, the new boy at school, under his wing, he discovered a soul mate. In Wham! George and Me, Andrew tells the story of how they rode a rollercoaster of success around the world while making iconic records and surviving superstardom with their friendship intact. It is a memoir of love, music, the flamboyant 1980s and living in a pop hurricane. No one else can ever tell their story - because no one else was there . . . For the first time, Andrew Ridgeley tells the inside story of Wham!, his life-long friendship with George Michael and the formation of a band that changed the shape of the music scene in the early eighties. ________ 'A joyous celebration of the Wham! years. For anyone who was a teenager in the early 1980s, it will take you on a nostalgia trip. It's an honest but affectionate account of a remarkable duo who remained true to their origins and their friendship throughout it all' Daily Express 'As infectious as their music' Daily Mirror 'A remarkably generous memoir. In more than one sense, the biography of a friend' Spectator 'A great story' Saturday Live, Radio 4 'A lovely book. A love letter to George' Graham Norton, BBC One 'Charming, heartfelt . . . there's a real poignancy to Ridgeley's description of Wham!'s glory days' Sunday Times

Migrant City

Migrant City
Author: Panikos Panayi
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 487
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Cultural pluralism
ISBN: 0300210973

The first history of London to show how immigrants have built, shaped and made a great success of the capital city London is now a global financial and multicultural hub in which over three hundred languages are spoken. But the history of London has always been a history of immigration. Panikos Panayi explores the rich and vibrant story of London- from its founding two millennia ago by Roman invaders, to Jewish and German immigrants in the Victorian period, to the Windrush generation invited from Caribbean countries in the twentieth century. Panayi shows how migration has been fundamental to London's economic, social, political and cultural development. Migrant City sheds light on the various ways in which newcomers have shaped London life, acting as cheap labour, contributing to the success of its financial sector, its curry houses, and its football clubs. London's economy has long been driven by migrants, from earlier continental financiers and more recent European Union citizens. Without immigration, fueled by globalization, Panayi argues, London would not have become the world city it is today.

George Michael

George Michael
Author: Carolyn McHugh
Publisher:
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2021-09
Genre:
ISBN: 9781912918621

George Michael was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. Michael has sold over 115 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His first solo single "Careless Whisper" reached number one in over 20 countries, including the US. Michael's debut solo album Faith was released in 1987, staying at number one on the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks, and winning Album of the Year at the 31st Grammy Awards. Three years later Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990) was released which included the Billboard Hot 100 number one "Praying for Time." "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," a 1991 duet with Elton John, was also a transatlantic number one. Michael, who came out as gay in 1998, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/ AIDS charity fundraiser. His most famous songs were with Wham! and as a solo artist, but he also collaborated with such musical royalty as Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Queen, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Paul McCartney, and Beyonce. This is his story.

PEOPLE George Michael

PEOPLE George Michael
Author: The Editors of PEOPLE
Publisher: Time Inc. Books
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2017-01-19
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1683308212

With glorious, rarely seen photos and new interviews with Aretha Franklin, Cindy Crawford, Melissa Etheridge and remembrances from many other famous friends, this People commemorative edition celebrates the unparalleled life and career of George Michael (1963-2016). From his early years as a teen songwriter with Wham! to his incredible solo success with hits like "Faith" and "Freedom '90." A must for fans!