George Michael is being remembered for his acts of generosity as well as his contribution to music today.
The queer icon and iconic pop singer, who died on Christmas Day leaving an estate worth millions, was born into a struggling, working class north London home.
Anecdotes about his generosity never made the tabloids when accounts of his sexual encounters in toilets, mishaps, arrests and drug-taking could be splashed across a front page instead. Now that he is dead, they are arriving thick and fast.
Michael described his mother Lesley as “a woman of great compassion” who “felt much as I do, that we were living in a world that was gradually being drained of that”. The capacity for empathy this would instil in him is something that set him apart from privileged celebrities, as accounts now show.
Michael donated royalties from his biggest hits to charities including Childline, as well as supporting the Terrence Higgins Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support, among other organisations.
Childline patron Esther Ranzen told the Press Association: “Over the years he gave us millions and we were planning next year, as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations to create, we hoped, a big concert in tribute to him - to his artistry, to his wonderful musicality but also to thank him for the 100s of 1,000s of children he helped through supporting Childline.”
His Twitter feed would regularly become a site for charity auctions and Michael would gift concert tickets to NHS nurses. After his death, it also transpired he had apparently worked anonymously at a homeless shelter, asking staff at that time that his work there was not disclosed.
He is also said to have contacted Deal or No Deal after a woman appeared on the show and explained she was trying to secure £15,000 to pay for IVF treatment, then secretly donated the money to her.
