George Michael Net Worth

George Michael's Quotes

• I do think that Live Aid (1985) was a great thing, it focused people, I think it showed young kids the way in many respects and I think a lot of people are still inspired by what happened in the mid-Eighties.
• I still believe that music is one of the greatest gifts that God gave to man.
• Even though it's become a really cliched thing to see musicians working for charity, it's still effective and it still has to be done.
• It was my own stupid fault. I was in possession of class C drugs which is an offence and I have no complaints about the police, who were professional throughout.
• [April 2006] The trajectory of my particular soap opera with the press launched from that statement Elton [Elton John] made about eighteen months ago when Elton hadn't seen me for years. Elton said he thought I was really miserable for some reason. From that point on I've been trying to prove that I'm not. Unfortunately it made me incredibly vulnerable to the press.

Interesting Facts about George Michael

1. He was arrested in April 1998 at a public restroom in Beverly Hills for committing a lewd act in front of an undercover police officer. As a result, for the first time he spoke publicly about being gay. BBC talk show host Michael Parkinson dedicated an episode of his Parkinson (1971) series to an interview with him. Michael also wrote and released the song "Outside", which had lyrics and a music video mocking the whole incident. The arresting police officer filed a civil suit against Michael for defamation of character, but it was dismissed.
2. He enjoyed four UK number one singles with Wham: "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" (1984), "Freedom" (1984), "I'm Your Man" (1985) and "The Edge of Heaven" (1986).
3. He recorded duets with Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Rory Bourke, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston.
4. His song "Father Figure" was sampled for PM Dawn's hit "Looking Through Patient Eyes".
5. He collaborated with Queen and Lisa Stansfield on the UK's chart-topping "Five Live" (EP) in 1993.
6. The first three singles of George Michael's solo career all went to the number one position on the UK chart: "Careless Whisper" (1984), "A Different Corner" (1986) and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987). The latter was a duet with Aretha Franklin.
7. His song with Wham!, "Last Christmas", is the best selling UK hit never to get to number one, reaching the number two position in December 1984, being re-issued and reaching the number six position the next December and being re-issued again and reaching the number 45 position in December 1986. It spent a total of 24 weeks on the UK chart.
8. He sang on the number one and number two Christmas singles of 1984, Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and Wham!'s "Last Christmas".
9. He was a big fan of This Morning (1988) and, on the final episode of the series, he phoned the presenters, Richard and Judy, to thank them live on air and to wish them the best.
10. He has contributed two songs to the "Warchild Hope" album (released 21 April 2003); one is a cover of Don McLean's "The Grave" and the other is his own classic "Faith" (a duet with Ms Dynamite).
11. His controversial single "Shoot the Dog" (released 2002) had a video that ridiculed Tony Blair, Cherie Blair and George W. Bush.
12. His last performance with Wham! was at Wembley Stadium in June 1986.
13. In September 1984, he played a benefit for striking British miners as part of Wham!.
14. He wrote his smash hit single "Careless Whisper" when he was just 17, on a Thursday afternoon in Bushey. He waited until he was 21 before he released it as his first solo single. The song reached number one in more than 25 countries and sold in excess of six million copies.
15. His father, Kyriacos Panayiotou, was a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner, who emigrated to the U.K. from Cyprus in the 1950s. His mother, Lesley Angold (Harrison), was of English background, the daughter of George James Harrison and Daisy Angold Young.
16. He and Andrew Ridgeley wrote "Careless Whisper" on the back of a bus during their school days.
17. He provided backing vocals on Andrew Ridgeley's album "Son Of Albert" on tracks "Red Dress" & "Shake". These were the only two songs to do well on the charts.
18. His 1990 solo hit "Freedom 90" from the CD "Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1" was so titled to avoid confusion with his previous Wham! hit "Freedom".
19. He wrote many of his songs while working at a movie theater as a teenager.
20. He was reported to have sold over 100 million albums upon his death in 2016 when his sales with Wham! and as a solo artist were combined.