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The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Nadia Khomami (now), Martin Farrer and Melissa Davey (earlier)

George Michael: world mourns pop star and gay rights champion – tributes and reactions

Singer, songwriter, pop superstar: George Michael dies aged 53

Summary

And if you’re keen to continue reading, check out Owen Jones’s opinion piece on why Michael was a defiant gay icon, Alexis Petridis on the singer’s singular path to stardom, and Bob Stanley on why Wham! were the most misunderstood group of the 1980s.

We are now closing this live blog for the day. Thank you for joining us.

Author and BBC radio 2 broadcaster Janey Lee Grace was a backing singer for Wham! on their historic 1995 tour of China, and remained friends with George Michael. She told the Guardian:

“George was always a perfectionist. When we played China, we were the first western band to go there, which was a bizarre experience. They were making a feature film and we had a huge film crew. After the first few scenes were shot, George and Andy looked at the rushes of the film and George was seriously unhappy with his hair, so he flew out his sister Melanie, who was a hairdresser, to sort it.

“He knew exactly how he wanted to look and how he wanted his music to sound. Even though my colleagues and I were the backing singers on all the live gigs and the live videos, he rarely used session singers in the studio, because he was so brilliant he did all his own backing vocals – infuriating for us, but what a star!

“On the first tour, amongst the merchandise were dolls of George and Andy. The guys would have a little competition at each gig to see whose doll sold the most. George used to get quite miffed if Andrew Ridgeley’s sold more!

“Years later I was invited to his Cowboys and Angels birthday party. We had to go in fancy dress. I was eight and a half months pregnant so couldn’t really go as an angel, but managed a cowboy outfit. It was all just after the shenanigans had gone on with George being arrested in the public loos, and the invitations said: ‘Please note, there will be no public conveniences so please go before you come.’ He had a fabulous sense of humour, that’s why he was so beloved.

“I’m not sure he ever got over the death of his mother, Lesley. She was the most lovely woman, so proud of her son, and we had several long discussions about the horror of losing someone to cancer so young.”

Updated

Daily Mirror associate editor Kevin Maguire’s take on the story:

No matter how diligently George Michael tried at times to sink his career, his career just wouldn’t go away. If anything – as he told Kirsty Young when he was a Desert Island Discs castaway in 2007 – it kept bobbing buoyantly, untarnished by scandal. With Michael, there was no such thing as “reputational damage”.

Read more from Caroline here.

Huffington Post writer Aaron Vallely tweets:

George Michael performing in Bratislava in May 2007.
George Michael performing in Bratislava in May 2007. Photograph: Samuel Kubani/AFP/Getty Images

George Michael was no stranger to the headlines. His private life was often offered up for public consumption, but his philanthropy was not as widely reported. Since his death, stories have emerged that reveal his generous, often spontaneous, acts of kindness.

The star often kept aside tickets for NHS staff at his concerts, and once gave an entire special concert free of charge for nurses as a thank you for the care they had given his mother a decade earlier.

Read more here.

Updated

Readers are sharing their memories of meeting George – this one from kirstimckee adds to the stories we’ve been hearing today about the artist’s generosity:

“When I was training as a doctor, on one of my first weekends on call in a North London hospital, a patient was transferred to our ward. It was a chauffeur who worked for lots of rock stars, who had been in a very serious accident. I was called up to talk to the family, who were Greek-Cypriot, and I realised while talking to them that one of the people in the room was George Michael. Half an hour later his personal doctor gave me a call and we were asked to transfer the patient to a private hospital. George arranged for everything and, I assume, paid for it all. I was a fan of his music but this revealed a side of him I had not seen before (and he rose even further in my estimation).”

hvadaltsaa: “I was a regular at Double Bass, the club night that Steve Strange used to run on a Tuesday. It was more of a question of who didn’t go there than who did. I met George Michael as we were dancing the night away. The next day, some tabloid or other had a shot of a woman whom they claimed was his partner. It was an education for me in how sometimes the media write the stories they want when they can’t get the stories that they would really like.” Read more ...

Mel Cameron: “My first concert was at the Birmingham NEC and in the days before mobile phones and cameras - the flash created on his Everything She Wants video was so cleverly created, by George shouting to the thousands of adorning fans “On the count of 123” and suddenly they all pressed their automatic camera flash and WHAM you had that amazing flash on the video.” Read more ...
Share your tributes and memories by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ button.

Updated

Following news of his death, streams of George Michael’s solo music on Spotify have seen a 3,158% increase globally today, the digital music service has said.

The top five songs fans of George Michael and Wham! have streamed today are:

  1. Last Christmas
  2. Careless Whisper
  3. Faith
  4. Freedom! ’90
  5. Wake Me up Before You Go-Go

The increase was calculated by analysing streams of George Michael’s solo catalogue. Streaming data from today (26 December) was then compared with the same time period from the previous day (25 December).

Updated

Matthew Hodson, executive director of HIV charity NAM/aidsmap, has been reading this piece by Daily Beast writer Tim Teeman:

Cristo Foufas, who worked as Michael’s publicist during a stint of work experience arranged by a mutual friend, recalls how he might have accidentally leaked details of the LA toilet incident to the press. “What was staggering to me at the time, as a young man starting to accept my own sexuality, was his total and utter lack of shame over the incident,” Foufas writes.

Kris Jenner joins those paying tribute to Michael.

Peter Tatchell.
Peter Tatchell. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said he first met George Michael around 1980 when he was “still a teenager and before he was famous”.

“It was a chance meeting in a small gay disco above a pub by Manor House tube station. He was a great dancer and sang along to songs. He had a good voice and said he was going to be a pop star,” he said. “There were lots of wannabes in those days. I thought: maybe. I was surprised and pleased when he hit the big time three years later with Wham!”

Tatchell said Michael turned his 1998 arrest for engaging in a lewd act in public toilets in Los Angeles “into a defiant defence of the right to be gay”. It was an incident that forced him to disclose his sexuality.

“In the 1980s he chose not to reveal that he was gay because he feared a negative reaction from his parents, fans, record company and, particularly, the tabloid press,” he added. “Back then, the red tops [tabloids] were vicious to gay public figures. They were vilified and smeared. Being gay was portrayed as a scandal and shame.”

He said during that decade it was also the era of Aids, dubbed “the gay plague”, with gay men often blamed for the virus: “Public attitudes became much more homophobic. Gay-bashings and murders rocketed. It was a fearful period to be gay, let alone a gay public figure. I wish George had come out then. He could have helped counter that tide of prejudice. But I understand why he didn’t.”

Updated

Here are some pictures from Michael’s home in Highgate, north London, today.

People arrive with bunches of flowers to lay in tribute outside the north London home of British singer George Michael on December 26, 2016, after news of the singer’s death broke.
People arrive with bunches of flowers to lay in tribute outside the north London home of British singer George Michael on 26 December 2016, after news of the singer’s death broke. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
People arrive with bunches of flowers to lay in tribute outside the north London home of British singer George Michael on December 26, 2016, after news of the singer’s death broke.
People arrive with bunches of flowers to lay in tribute outside the north London home of British singer George Michael on December 26, 2016, after news of the singer’s death broke.
People arrive with bunches of flowers to lay in tribute outside the north London home of British singer George Michael on December 26, 2016, after news of the singer’s death broke.
People arrive with bunches of flowers to lay in tribute outside the north London home of British singer George Michael on December 26, 2016, after news of the singer’s death broke.
People arrive with bunches of flowers to lay in tribute outside the north London home of British singer George Michael on December 26, 2016, after news of the singer’s death broke.

Updated

Comedian and writer David Baddiel has been delving into his email archive and found this from the “Singing Greek” - which is what George Michael called himself, by the way.

George Michael performs with Boy George in 1988
George Michael performs with Boy George in 1988. Photograph: Andre Csillag/REX/Shutterstock

Guardian columnist Owen Jones has written about why George Michael’s openness about his sex life, and his campaigning for LGBT rights, offered a liferaft to many – particularly at a time when anti-gay sentiment was rife.

The manner in which he was outed became a standard playground homophobic trope, a means for bigots to express their revulsion at how sordid and morally corrupt they deemed gay men to be. But haters gonna hate, as the expression goes – homophobes will latch on to anything to confirm their bigoted narrative. For LGBT people consumed with terror at the realisation of who they were, to see the man who sang Last Christmas telling his tormentors where to stick it was liberating.”

Read more from Owen here.

Updated

Up-and-coming singer, songwriter and producer Leo Kalyan pays his tribute to George Michael:

Here are some more pictures from George Michael’s residence in north London today.

Outside Michael’s home in north London, Fanoulla Toulou, 43, who has Greek Cypriot heritage, was paying her respects. “There’s no one that doesn’t like George Michael,” she said.

Billie Laing, 55, went to Michael’s home from Potters Bar in Hertfordshire, and cried as she stood outside his house. Before she retired from her job as a nursery teacher she got her class of children, aged three and four, to paint pictures of Michael. She brought them to his house on Christmas Eve two years ago but Michael was asleep and his cousin said they would be passed on to him. “That’s what makes it so sad as well because I know he loved Christmas,” she said, adding: “It’s so sad that I never got to meet him.”

The Press Association has done a roundup of Michael’s biggest successes in numbers.

Seven UK number one singles, according to the Official Charts Company.

23 UK Top 10 singles and 36 UK Top 40 singles.

Michael’s singles have spent 17 weeks at number one, 75 weeks in the Top 10 and 190 weeks in the Top 40.

His last single, 2014’s Let Her Down Easy, peaked at 53 in the UK singles chart.

Seven UK number one solo albums.

His debut album, Faith, released in 1987, has sold over 20m copies worldwide.

10 of Michael’s solo albums have appeared on the US Billboard 200 chart, and three reached the top 10.

His single Faith was the most successful in the US, topping the charts for four weeks.

Wham! sold 25m albums in the 1980s alone.

Careless Whisper, released in 1984, reached number one in over 20 countries and shifted over 6m copies.

The official video on Michael’s Vevo channel for Careless Whisper has, to date, been streamed over 162.8m times.

Michael has won three Brit awards - including Best British Male twice - three American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards and two Grammy awards.

Updated

Frank Sinatra once wrote a letter to Michael telling him: “Loosen up. Swing, man.”

Updated

On George Michael, the “absolute mensch”:

More tributes, this time from Sam Smith, Kylie Minogue, and MNEK.

Updated

From India to China, where George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley made music history in 1985 when they became the first western pop act to perform after the communist country’s years of cultural isolation, beating the likes of the Rolling Stones and Queen.

The gig was dreamed up by Wham! manager Simon Napier-Bell, who worked on the scheme tirelessly for 18 months. Michael and Ridgeley’s thoroughly modern sound and look – complete with feathered, dyed hair and heavy-shouldered jackets – was new and foreign to the 15,000 Chinese fans who had managed to secure a ticket against the odds to see the show. Though dancing and singing along to the gig, held in Beijing, was reportedly banned by authorities, the crowd found their rhythm regardless.

Film of the concert was later turned into a documentary of the band’s visit to China.

Napier-Bell recalled on the landmark concert’s 20th anniversary in 2005 how he was in conversation with members of the Chinese government for months trying to persuade them to allow the event. “It was two years of lunches – I fed the whole government, 143 people three times each,” he told the BBC.

He eventually managed to convince them that their pop music-free country needed Wham! and a PR stunt like the concert to open up the possibility of attracting the foreign investors they desired.

“They had fallen for that. Also, I agreed instantly. Once they said yes, I didn’t say ‘in six months’ time’ - I said ‘in two weeks’. “I think they might have backtracked, but they couldn’t. The next morning it was in every single paper – tabloid and broadsheet – everywhere in the world.”

Updated

This is interesting.

Here’s Guardian reader Sarah Morgan on Michael:

“It’s summer 1983, I’m on my first camp and we are dancing the full Bad Boys routine in the forest. (Wendy, Anne Sutton, Julie Lawrence.) We have discovered Wham and I’m about to embark on a 33-year love affair with George Michael. One which will involve buying every album and attending every concert that hits Birmingham. Reading every newspaper article, plastering my walls with posters. Playing the Make It Big vinyl until it’s virtually worn out. Borrowing Ruth Hughes’ Wham! in China’ video, chewing it up in the crap VHS and mum having to go out and buy Ruth a new one from Woolworths to replace it. Watching him join others in making history in Band aid and Live aid. Sobbing for weeks after Wham! spilt up, my greatest regret becoming missing the Wembley final concert, and delighting in a new raunchy George in his Faith leathers and ripped jeans. I too was convinced I would marry him, Ruth!”

Updated

Many readers have been telling us about how they grew up with George Michael’s music from the early days of Wham to solo performer. Here’s jgalilee:

“I finally got street cred at school when I brought in the 12-inch of I Want Your Sex. At the time it was banned by Radio 1 but the instrumental a year later became the theme to On this Day in History on Simon Mayo’s Breakfast Show on Radio 1. George Michael a legend.”

Being a George Michael for most of my life, I had always accepted that I wouldn't see him live. He had said in a number of interviews that he found the whole touring experience lonely. I was gutted but accepted it.

I comforted myself by buying all the albums and the singles, which had live tracks on them. The live tracks always stood out because not only did he write beautiful songs it was his ability to perform them live that cemented my love for his talent.

However, 25Live was announced. Tickets were bought for my sisters and I and we stood outside The Point Depot, Dublin in horrendous conditions to try to get to the front of the stage - something I've never done for any other artist.

We got to the front, I think I might have fainted slightly when I got in...but it was and still one of the best nights of my life.

Thank you, George!

Paul Madden x

Updated

In 1997, Michael lost his mother Lesley to cancer. At the time he described her as a “woman of great compassion”, adding: “She felt much as I do, that we were living in a world that was gradually being drained of that.”

Almost 10 years after her death he played a special free concert in north London for NHS nurses as thanks for the care they gave her and over the years continued to support charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support.

Lynda Thomas, the chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “We are deeply saddened to hear about the death of George Michael who as a Macmillan ambassador provided his committed support to us in a number of ways. We are extremely grateful to George and send our condolences to his family, friends and fans.”

Updated

This story is starting to make the rounds on Twitter. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but with the anecdotes about Michael’s charitable work coming out today I wouldn’t be surprised if it had happened.

From former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr:

And Labour MP David Lammy:

Leandros Kalisperas, 39, a Greek Cypriot from north London, was outside Michael’s home on Monday morning. He said the singer was a huge inspiration and “hero” to him. “For me there was no one else who could take us to that high joyous place and take us to very sad places,” he said, adding: “The moment I heard the news I just wanted to be here.”

Updated

In north London, George Michael fan Helen Walkden, 52, said the star’s death was “absolutely shocking”. “I just thought this is the most horrendous end to a year where everyone who is important to my generation has been ripped away”, she said.

Reflecting on the events of 2016 outside Michael’s home, Walkden added: “Grief upon grief upon grief.”

Tony Fleming, 48, said he had met Michael a number of times over the years and described him as a “special, kind person”. “He was a very giving person. He’d had a great life but he has also had a lot of sadness and grief and loss in his own personal life,” Fleming said. “He was just always a happy, positive, loving person and that just shone through all the time. I just think that everyone is going to miss that so much.”

Meanwhile, floral tributes have been left for Michael at his riverside home in Goring-on-Thames. One card, signed “Tracy”, said: “Dear George, My heart is broken, you have gone too soon. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world.

“Some of my most precious and happiest memories have been watching you sing live and one of the best days of my life was being at Wembley for Wham’s final concert and again when you sang at the new Wembley. I hope that you have finally found some peace and you know how much you were loved. Your music and spirit will live on.”

Another card, which was anonymous, said: “George, thank you for your songs and your beautiful voice. We will miss you x.”

Updated

Huge if true:

User avatar for Owlyross

George Michael wrote Careless Whisper aged 17. Some people can't write a shopping list at 17.

Updated

Having a browse of your comments below the line. Between dole queues and heartbreak in a Preston nightclub, fans’ memories are vast and varied...

User avatar for Hassellhoffmeister

Wham rap took a little bit of the sting out of signing on in the 80's; "I may not have a job, but I have a good time, With the boys that I meet "down on the line".

I recall us all spontaneously singing it whilst waiting at the social one day - the office manager was not best pleased - needless to say it happened a few more times after that! Nice, good fun bloke. What a shame. RIP.

User avatar for Knowziesonions

RIP George. As I listened to 'Last Christmas' on the radio in the car on my way home from work on Christmas Eve night I had one of those lucid memories that music can bring on. I was back in Clouds nightclub in Preston in 1985, with a girl who broke my heart....to hear George singing that song will always do that. Club Tropicana always takes me to Ibiza too. I was a long haired heavy rocker and couldn't possibly have admitted my fondness for those tunes back then though!

Michael, who spoke about losing his partner Anselmo Feleppa to HIV, personally supported the Terrence Higgins Trust for many years, Jane Barron from the organisation has said. She added:

We are so saddened by the loss of George Michael. George also often thought of us to kindly donate experiences and gifts that were used to raise vital funds to help us support people living with HIV.

Along with other charities, we were grateful to benefit from the royalties of George’s 1991 duet with Elton John, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me. His donations contributed to a vision of a world where people living with HIV live healthy lives free from prejudice and discrimination.

Thanks to George’s legacy, we are a step closer to that world and we are so grateful for his support and friendship over the years. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this difficult time.

Stonewall’s Josh Willacy writes:

Updated

The Guardian’s health policy editor, Denis Campbell, has alerted me to some medical research, by British doctors and researchers, showing that pop stars do die earlier than others. It’s from 2007 but sadly pertinent again today. Check it out here.

From three to 25 years post fame, both North American and European pop stars experience significantly higher mortality (more than 1.7 times) than demographically matched populations in the USA and UK, respectively. After 25 years of fame, relative mortality in European (but not North American) pop stars begins to return to population levels. Five‐year post‐fame survival rates suggest differential mortality between stars and general populations was greater in those reaching fame before 1980.

Updated

Forgot about this cover. Any others?

Updated

Our community editor, Caroline Bannock, has compiled some more memories from Guardian readers. I’m loving these pictures of poster-plastered walls and old ticket stubs.

I was 12 when I first saw Wham! live, it felt like I'd waited eons to see them in the flesh following their first appearance on Top of the Pops two years earlier...I'd stood in front of the TV watching in awe and I just knew I'd witnessed something great. George's amazing talent provided the soundtrack to my life and I'm bereft and heartbroken to know that he will sing no more...RIP George Michael

lloydhutchinson: “It was 1986 and Danny Boyle was directing his first film for the BBC. It was called Scout and featured six young Northern Irish teenagers. While we were rehearsing in London, Danny managed to bag us all tickets for a recording of Top of the Pops at which Bananarama and Wham! were going to feature. We went along and had a great night and I remember, apart from how dirty the studio was, how he bantered with the crowd and us and I remember being so blown away by seeing someone so famous up close and how ordinary he seemed. It seems so sad that 30 years later he has died, and that summer of 1986 has receded just a little bit more into my memory.”

Franczeska: “Freedom came out at the same time when we got access to western TV and MTV in Poland. I will never forget when it came out. I would record it on VHS and watch it over and over and over. And then I would get up and dance to it and feel like Linda or Naomi. Thank you George.”

If you’d like to share your tributes and memories click on the blue ‘Contribute’ button at the top of the blog.

Updated

Simon Cowell has called Michael “one of the greatest”. Dwayne Johnson (also known as WWE wrestler the Rock) said he was a “brilliant icon”.

Pictures from Michael’s home in Highgate, north London, where fans are continuing to leave tributes.

Universal Music have just sent through this statement:

We’re in shock at the loss of one of the greatest singer songwriters.

The brilliance of his music, the soundtrack to so many lives, will live for ever.

Our deepest condolences to George’s family and friends from everyone at Universal Music.

I’m listening to George Michael on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs – he was on the programme in 2007. When asked what his luxury would be on the desert island, he opted for an Aston Martin DB9, because no one would know on the solitary desert island that he was banned from driving. He spoke of his support for Amy Winehouse, calling her “the best female vocalist I’ve heard in my entire career and one of the best writers”. He also talked about his theory that a bump on his head when he was eight-years-old might have been responsible for his interest in music.

At the age of about eight I had a head injury and I know it sounds bizarre and unlikely, but it was quite a bad bang, and I had it stitched up and stuff, but all my interests changed, everything changed in six months.

I had been obsessed with insects and creepy crawlies, I used to get up at five o’clock in the morning and go out into this field behind our garden and collect insects before everyone else got up and, suddenly, all I wanted to know about was music, it just seemed a very, very strange thing.

And I have a theory that maybe it was something to do with this accident, this whole left-brain right-brain thing. Nobody in my family seemed to notice but I became absolutely obsessed with music and everything changed after that.

Music played includes Nirvana, Gnarls Barkley, and Kanye West.

Updated

George Michael’s philanthropic work was often hidden behind the headlines and his huge on-stage persona, but at the core the singer was a generous man who made many charitable donations. Michael donated all the royalties from his 1996 No 1 single Jesus to a Child to charity, and is said to have given a gameshow contestant thousands of pounds to fund her IVF treatment.

Michael was also among the stars involved in the original Band Aid single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, which raised more than $24m (£19m) for famine relief in Ethiopia after selling more than 2m copies worldwide.

In addition, the star helped countless children as a result of his donations to Childline, the charity’s founder and president, Dame Esther Rantzen, said. “For years now he has been the most extraordinarily generous philanthropist, giving money to Childline, but he was determined not to make his generosity public so no one outside the charity knew how much he gave to the nation’s most vulnerable children,” Rantzen told PA.

“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 hundreds of 1,000s of children he helped through supporting Childline.

“And it is particularly tragic that Christmas, which was when he released Jesus to a Child, would also be the time when we lost him. I think all of us have memories of particular Wham! songs and George Michael songs which mean a great deal to us. Certainly, for Britain’s children, George Michael meant so much more.”

Updated

The musicians we lost this year – Bowie, Prince, and now George Michael – were as fearless with their sexuality as they were with their art. It’s what made them generational icons. Buzzfeed’s LGBT editor, Patrick Strudwick, has shared a quote by Michael about his “voracious sexual appetite”.

Updated

A lot of the secrets and anecdotes being shared following Michael’s passing seem to relate to his generosity, which is pretty nice, after a lifetime of screaming tabloid headlines.

Updated

George Michael found success quickly in the US but his experience and life in America were soured by a fight with his record label and arrest in a public bathroom that forced him to come out as a gay man, writes Edward Helmore.

As a solo artist and with Wham!, Michael had 10 No 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including Faith, Father Figure, One More Try and Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Everything She Wants. And in the albums charts, Wham! claimed a No 1 with its breakthrough album Make It Big, while Michael led the list as a soloist with Faith, spending 12 weeks in the top spot in 1988.

But the singer’s fortunes soon began to slip, and he believed it was because his record label Sony had not sufficiently promoted Faith’s follow-up, Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1.

Pet Shop Boys have joined the growing list of musicians and artists paying tribute:

Remember, you can share your memories of meeting George Michael, or tell us what his music meant to you - it’s quite a cathartic thing to do - by clicking on the blue ‘contribute’ button at the top of this blog. You can also tweet me @nadiakhomami.

Updated

Other residents of Highgate in north London, where Michael lived, reported that the singer was a big part of the community.

One man, Walter, said he and his wife Avril had known Michael for years, and that he visited the couple’s lifestyle and interior shop in the village. “He did a lot for the village,” Walter said, adding that the star was the driving force behind sorting a Christmas tree on a communal green area opposite his house.

Walter, who was out walking his dog, also said Michael “loved dogs”, but that he had not seen him for a while. “He kept himself to himself. He was a private man,” he said.

Meanwhile, more fans of Michael are making the trip to his north London home to pay tribute to the star, including Helen Bradbear, who lives nearby. “I just loved his music,” she said, adding: “I think he was a very big-hearted, caring human being really.”

Bradbear described Michael’s songs as “universally expansive”, and said she woke up and felt “really shocked” by the news. “I think he was a great man... he was an inspiring figure,” she said.

Yes it would, Gary.

For a short period of time during the 80s, a feature of George Michael’s stage performances included stuffing a shuttlecock down the front of his trousers.

Michael and Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley would use the badminton equipment during energetic routines. In an interview with Jonathan Ross in 1987, Michael joked the stunt was part of a “terribly sophisticated piece of pantomime” on tour:

Andrew used to get them - of course we’d be really sweaty because it would be halfway through the show - and he would kiss it and then run it down his sweaty arm and throw it out to some adoring 13-year-old.

The actual climax of this terribly sophisticated piece of pantomime is that one of them would end up between my legs.

I can’t remember if I used to chuck those ones out (to the crowd).

Readers from round the world have been sharing their tributes and memories of Michael:

This picture was on december 2006, right as he was leaving for a concert, one of the many I had the privilege to attend. He was so gifted in so many ways. His irreplaceable talent will be greatly missed. Thanks for all that grearness George!

misstoile wrote: “Wake Me Up Before you Go-go was the first record I bought. I was nine, and I had a dance routine that I performed when listening to it on my own in the living room. My mum didn’t want me to spend my pocket money on this “nonsense”, as she called pop, so Wham! became my first act of rebellion.”

Lani Brock said: “I’m 10 and open for Christmas an album from my oldest brother, Wham!. Up until this point, my only exposure to pop music was by Christian singer, Amy Grant. I listened with joy and fun! Fast forward to Hawaii 1987. I was fourteen years old and though news of his American tour was not mentioned until he toured on the mainland, Hawaii was the first state that he chose to perform his songs from his Faith album. That was the only time I ever heard and saw him live ...” Read more

This is what my bedroom walls looked like in my little tractorville rural town in Ohio. I was the "weird" girl who like British pop music and wanted to be a model (yeah right like that happens to anyone in THAT part of Ohio...stop dreaming silly girl and go become a teacher or just get married and pop out some babies). I was mercilessly and relentlessly teased/bullied to the point that I was often depressed and suicidal as a teen. I hated my life so much. My mom would remind me to "have faith". Heck, i wanted to be a model because hey that's how you got a guy from Duran Duran and well, all the good models were in George Michael videos. I would put on my headphones, blast my Walkman with Duran, Wham! or George Michael and escape into a world far far away from my 2-traffic-light town. I truly believe that I am where I am (a model/actress in Hollywood, CA for the past 14 years) because the music not only kept me alive, but inspired me as well. I was lucky enough to see George in concert in 2008 in Los Angeles and it was absolutely mindblowing. I'm destroyed that he is gone. Thank you for giving me Faith to believe and keep me going. RIP my beautiful beautiful man with the soulful golden voice.


You can share yours by clicking on the blue ‘contribute’ button on this blog.

Updated

Updated

London, the city where Michael was born, is waking up to the sad news of his death this Boxing Day. Candles have been lit outside of the singer’s north London home.

Kevin McDonagh, who lives nearby and went to the residence to pay tribute, said he remembered dancing with his wife to Michael’s music when they were teenagers.

He said his children, now aged 15 and 17, have been listening to Michael’s music all over the festive season.

He touched a lot of people. And in some point in your life you have to demonstrate your appreciation of talent. He was troubled but it doesn’t take away from his talents.

He described Michael as a “man of the people”.

Updated

George Michael was known for being quite open about his life and loves during the rare interviews he gave. The Press Association has compiled a list of some of his most famous quotes, which you can read below.

Reflecting on his career in 2014:

“Fame after Wham! drove me close to lunacy”.

On the damage he feared his public disgraces had caused, 2011:

I have a really serious problem with the fact that when I brought myself down, I felt I was letting young gay kids down. My behaviour meant these kids suffered abuse and the homophobic language that is legal in this country.

On spending a month in prison in 2010 for drug-driving:

I felt very re-energised after my recent troubles.

On his disappointment that the BBC did not use his royal wedding anthem, although it was played during Norwegian television coverage of the wedding between William and Kate in 2011:

I always receive more support abroad. It’s a shame, but let’s be honest, after almost 30 years I count myself lucky to get any support anywhere.

On why he didn’t want to be an X Factor judge, 2011:

I couldn’t be involved in the cruel part.

Promising there would be no further scandals on his forthcoming visit to the US, 2008:

I really don’t think so. I’ve run out of ideas.

On his behaviour, 2007:

I finally realised that one reason why my life has felt so self-destructive is that I never had any feeling that my talent would let me down.

On his vanity, 2004:

It helps if you have a beard as it covers a multitude of sins. It really does.

Describing his 2004 track Flawless, which he dedicated to gay people:

It’s about time I made a record for the boys, isn’t it? I think there will be people dancing around their handbags to this one.

Discussing, in 2004, events after his arrest in a US public lavatory six years previously:

The most horrific thing that happened was that I was photographed with my shirt off and I was fat. Can you imagine two worse things than being fat and gay?

On celebrity culture and ageing, in 2004:

As you become older, you become more selective. Most celebrities bore me to tears.

On his appearance, in 1998:

Close up, my face is starting to resemble an Ordnance Survey map.

On the music industry in 1993:

I’m not too grand to sit around a table with the marketing people but I pay a manager to do that. You don’t get respect that way.

His response, when asked by a high court judge to assess his assets, 1993:

Extraordinarily wealthy ... about three houses.

Updated

I’m handing over the blog to Nadia Khomami in London now. Thanks for reading.

SUMMARY

If you’re just joining us today, here is a summary of the main developments of the last eight hours or so.

Updated

Here’s how some the newspapers in the UK reported on the news.

Not surprisingly, a lot of the reaction on social media surrounds the death of other prominent musicians this year. It started with David Bowie back in January … and even moved the Guardian to examine the phenomenon with this piece by Caroline Bainbridge.

Updated

Continuing on the non-music side of his career, we’ve just been having a debate in the office about whether George Michael was ever part of Red Wedge, the travelling troupe of left-leaning musicians who campaigned against Margaret Thatcher’s government in 80s Britain.

He wasn’t, from what I can gather. But our discussion led us to an excerpt from a book about protest and music written by the Guardian’s Dorian Lynskey called 33 Revolutions Per Minute, which mentions that George Michael wrote possible the first song decrying the Bush and Blair wars of the early 2000s.

Here’s the excerpt, referring to attempts by Damon Albarn and Robert Del Naja to rally musicians against the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

george
Picturegeorge Photograph: Google

Updated

Thanks to Mel for her efforts and thanks to you for reading. There are still a huge number of tributes being paid to George Michael on social media. Here are two typical of hundreds:

But as Mel mentioned in her summary below, LGBTI groups have been quick to praise the singer for his work in highlighting their cause.

On that subject, the Press Association in the UK has published some interview quotes from him talking his sexuality.

I thought I had fallen in love with a woman a couple of times. Then I fell in love with a man, and realised that none of those things had been love.

He admitted in an interview that his late 20s had been a very depressing time for him after he lost his partner, designer Anselmo Feleppa, to HIV.

I had my very first relationship at 27 because I really had not actually come to terms with my sexuality until I was 24. I lost my partner to HIV then it took about three years to grieve; then after that I lost my mother. I felt almost like I was cursed.

Updated

Thanks for sharing your tributes and memories to George Michael. To recap:

  • Michael died peacefully in his sleep aged 53, his publicist confirmed.
  • Police have said the singer’s death was not suspicious.
  • Michael’s manager later said he died after heart failure.
  • Tributes have poured in for the Wham! frontman, including from his former bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, Madonna and Boy George.
  • Meanwhile, LGBTI groups have described what Michael’s support of equal rights meant to them.
  • You can read the Guardian’s obituary for Michael here.

The Guardian will continue to bring you reaction here as it comes in. I’m handing the blog over to Martin Farrer now, but I’ll leave you with this one:

Updated

George Michael was an inspiration for those who found it difficult to express their sexuality, writes Johnny Lieu for Mashable. “For many kids growing up in the 90s, he was one of the first publicly gay people they knew,” he writes.

And the Boston Globe writes that for members of the LGBTI community, he was more than a singer or celebrity:

It’s cruel but fitting that Michael should pass away at the end of a year that’s already claimed David Bowie, Prince, transgender actress Alexis Arquette, and Dead or Alive singer Pete Burns. Not all of these people identified as LGBTQ, but they all pushed the acceptable boundaries and made it easier for those of us who didn’t fit into gender stereotypes.

Updated

So very smooth.

Wham! 1983

Culture Club’s lead singer, Boy George, has posted a statement in reaction to Michael’s death. He wrote:

I am thinking of @GeorgeMichael’s family, friends and fans right now. He was so loved and I hope he knew it because the sadness today is beyond words. Devastating. What a beautiful voice he had and his music will live on as a testament to his talent. I can’t believe he is gone. I hope the Buddha will hold him in his arms.

Updated

In an interview in 2007, Michael spoke about why he felt he had to keep his sexuality a secret. He said:

My mother was still alive and every single day would have been a nightmare for her thinking what I might have been subjected to.

I’d been out to a lot of people since 19. I wish to God it had happened then. I don’t think I would have the same career – my ego might not have been satisfied in some areas – but I think I would have been a happier man.

The LGBTI community has been mourning his death, speaking about the impact Michael’s openness later in his career had on them.

Updated

The former Wham! and solo star pushed boundaries with his songs – telling us we should at long last just accept love in all its forms, says the Guardian feature writer Laura Barton. She writes:

There was supposed to be a third act; a new album, a tour — both rumoured for 2017. There was meant to be a point at which George Michael was reclaimed from the tiresome reputation of high-living, glamorous, homosexual recluse to be recognised as one of our most consummate artists; a moment when the cruder memories of Swiss rehab centres, entanglements on Hampstead Heath and crashing into branches of Snappy Snaps faded into the sound of Faith or Freedom or Club Tropicana.

This year has not been kind – Bowie, Prince, Leonard, stand among our many musical losses. But the sadness of Michael’s death feels particularly discombobulating; while it had been evident for some time that Michael had been unwell, and that his willingness to be a recording artist had waned, it seemed inevitable that at any moment soon he might resurface – as red-blooded and vibrant as ever.

Updated

When was the first time you heard George Michael? Did you ever see him live? What did his music mean to you? Share your thoughts with us.

Rolling Stone has compiled a list of 20 essential George Michael songs, from Careless Whisper to his 1987 duet with Aretha Franklin, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).

Updated

The New York Times has posted its tribute to Michael:

Mr. Michael was one of pop’s reigning stars in the 1980s and 1990s – first as a handsome, smiling, teenypop idol making lighthearted singles like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” with Wham!, then arriving as a grown-up pop sex symbol with his 1987 album “Faith.”

But Mr. Michael grew increasingly uncomfortable with the superficiality and relentless promotion of 1980s-style pop stardom. He turned away from video clips and live shows; he set out to make more mature statements in his songs, though he never completely abandoned singing about love and desire.

Updated

Julian Lennon on Facebook:

So sorry to hear of George’s passing... I only met then man once, but he was a gentleman & truly talented.... Your Music Lives On... You will be missed.... x

Clash manager Tricia Ronane:

2016 really has been the worst year for losing talented friends. Today George Michael passed away while most people were sitting down to Christmas lunch. I remember getting him and Andrew Ridgeley in to the Wag Club before Wham had made it. He was always a lovely bloke never forgetting his roots. RIP YOG

Updated

The Guardian features writer Simon Hattenstone twice interviewed Michael: once in 2005 and again in 2009. He has written a piece reflecting on those interviews. Here is an excerpt:

Great singer (when he hadn’t smoked too much), great looking (though he didn’t like one side), great songwriter (before he got creative block), great personality (when not too stoned), and of course a great source of tabloid scandal.

He didn’t give many interviews, but when he did he really did give good interview. He didn’t believe in holding back.

The last time we met was at his home in Highgate for that second interview. Again, that was typical Michael. Few pop stars let you anywhere near their real life; Michael showed you everything when the time was right. He was a recluse of sorts, but he hid in plain sight.

Everybody knew George lived opposite the big pub, that he was likely to drive into the front window of Snappy Snaps when he’d had a toke too many, that he frequented Hampstead Heath most nights for casual sex.

Obsessive fans would wait for days outside his house hoping for a glimpse, photo or chat. There were a couple outside that time I was there – they’d come from Germany on the off-chance. His home was frequently stalked.

Updated

The Daily Beast writer Kevin Fallon writes that the “unlikely history” of Last Christmas is a tribute to its creator. The Christmas song penned by Michael is “beloved, reviled, hugely successful, and, now, more tragic than ever”, Fallon writes.

When Michael wrote Last Christmas for Wham! in 1984, the duo was making a play for the coveted Christmas number one in the UK – the badge of honor so hilariously lampooned by Bill Nighy’s character in Love Actually– but came up just short, finishing number two to the Band Aid charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” It was a big year for cheesy British holiday pop.

Still, the song became a chart success across the world both that year and nearly every one since. According to Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan, it is the 10th most downloaded holiday song in history.

That doesn’t even include all the cover versions of the song. Lately, remakes by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and the cast of Glee have found their way on to the radio and Duane Reade seasonal playlists. Jimmy Eat World, Ashley Tisdale, and Hillary Duff also have versions you may have had the (mis)fortune to hear.

The last line on the track’s Wikipedia on this Christmas Day is its most harrowing: “Avril Lavigne recorded a cover of the song on November 21 2016.”

Read the full piece here.

Updated

Guardian readers have been sharing their thoughts and memories of Michael. Here are a few:

A good part of what made the 80s magical was what this guy did.

Gutted. Listen Without Prejudice has maintained its power with me since I first heard it at 15 years old. He could’ve stood alongside Prince, MJ and Madonna as a giant of the times if he wanted to but after Faith pulled away from that level of fame. The drugs, sexual incidents are but a tiny footnote on a wonderful musical career.

A beautiful man, a kind and generous soul and a fantastic talent. But like us all flawed and with demons. You touched my life and I thank you for that. In our thoughts today and always.

I share the same birthday with George. One of my best memories is when I (finally) went to see him in concert in Paris as gift for myself and the whole stadium sang happy birthday for “us”. He will always be one of my favourite artists, beautiful voice, beautiful soul. RIP.

From Press Association:

Holly Johnson, lead singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, said: “Sad to hear the news about George Michael , and so many great singers and songwriters we lost this year.”

Music contemporaries Spandau Ballet said: “We are incredibly sad at the passing of our dear friend George Michael. A brilliant artist & great songwriter.”

Simply Red said: “Its hard to take in. One of our most talented singer songwriters has left us. RIP George Michael. Such sad, tragic news. 2016 please end.”

Matt Goss, singer in the band Bros, said: “George Michael was part of the tapestry of my life. His songs his lyrics & his melodies, True pop royalty! Heartbroken, RIP dearest George.”

Chic founder and guitarist Nile Rodgers said he with the tragic pop star days before he died.

He said: “This is so crazy. I was just at his house the morning of the 23rd. So crazy.”

Updated

Michael died after heart failure, manager says

Michael’s manager, Michael Lippman, told Billboard that he died of heart failure and was found “in bed, lying peacefully”.

“I’m devastated,” he said.

Updated

The Irish singer and songwriter Toby Bourke, who collaborated with Michael on Waltz Away Dreaming, told Guardian Australia that he was “deeply saddened” by the news. He said he would be paying tribute to his friend with “several bottles of whiskey” and playing the songs they worked on together, which Bourke said he hadn’t listened to in several years.

“It’s shocking news,” he said. “He remains one of the most important artists of our generation, he was the real McCoy he wasn’t just a pretty face.”

Bourke told Guardian Australia that Michael was deeply private and in many ways, uncomfortable with fame. “He was a working-class Cypriot boy from a Greek immigrant family,” Bourke says.

“He was really, really private, and he wasn’t brought up to be a pop star. But of course, he was.”

The pair met in 1997, shortly after the death of Michael’s mother, which Bourke said he never got over. They worked together on a song Bourke wrote, Waltz Away Dreaming.

“I wrote it as a love song and what he added to it was the consolation from a bereaved son. It was not the easiest circumstances to record in at the time, but he made it as easy as it could be. He met my own mum and was very nice to her. He was just a very nice guy.

“But I don’t think he ever got over his mother’s death, and what was a really hard period for him followed by many people he trusted selling stories about him.

“He ended up with a small group of people around him that shaped his final decade. I don’t think he was very healthy after that.”

He described Michael as someone who was a multi-instrumentalist and yet “extremely self-conscious”. “He’d record in private when he did his vocals, you weren’t allowed in the studio with him,” Bourke says.

“I remember when he did the MTV unplugged thing, he did the Bonnie Raitt song I Can’t Make You Love Me. He did a blistering, amazing version of it then afterwards he took the track away and redid the vocals because he felt it wasn’t good enough.”

He was aware that at the beginning of his career with Wham! his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley was the superior artist, a fact that drove Michael to succeed and improve, Bourke says.

“He did the critical thing which was to accept that and understand the work he had to do to catch up. And he did. The rest is history.”

Waltz Away Dreaming

Updated

The Guardian’s music editor, Michael Hann, reflects on five great George Michael performances, from Young Guns to Jesus to a Child.

Updated

George Michael's Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley pays tribute

George Michael was Britain’s biggest pop star of the 1980s, first with the pop duo Wham! and then as a solo artist, writes Adam Sweeting:

After Wham! made their initial chart breakthrough with the single Young Guns (Go for It) in 1982, Michael’s songwriting gift brought them giant hits including Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Careless Whisper, and they became leading lights of the 80s boom in British pop music, alongside Culture Club and Duran Duran.

His first solo album, Faith (1987), sold 25m copies, and Michael sold more than 100m albums worldwide with Wham! and under his own name.

Michael remained a major figure in the music industry even when his record releases slowed to a trickle in the later part of his career, and a loyal fan base ensured that his concert tours always sold out. However, from the late 1990s onwards he was beset by a string of personal crises and clashes with the law caused by drug use.

He had always felt ambivalent about the demands of stardom, and found it difficult to balance his celebrity status with his private life. After years of concealing his homosexuality, he eventually came out in 1998, after being arrested for engaging in a “lewd act” in a public lavatory in Beverly Hills, California.

He was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in Finchley, north London. His father was a Greek Cypriot restaurateur, Kyriacos Panayiotou, who had married Lesley Angold, an English dancer. The family moved to Radlett in Hertfordshire, and George attended Bushey Meads school, where he became close friends with Andrew Ridgeley. The pair formed a ska-influenced quintet, the Executive, in 1979, then in 1981 re-emerged as a duo, Wham!.

Read the full obituary here:

Updated

The Guardian has just launched a gallery of George Michael images here, featuring leather, oversized earrings and great hair.

Updated

From China BBC:

Thirty years ago the British pop band Wham! became the first western band to play in a then closed-off China.

Cheng Fangyuan, a famous Chinese singer, was one of 12,000 people who turned up to the concert in the capital, Beijing.
She had been invited to cover Wham!’s songs ahead of their visit, in a bid to promote the band to a Chinese audience, who had never heard of them or their music before.
The concert was a rare glimpse of western culture for the Chinese who were just starting to look outward.

How Wham! helped change China. By BBC News.

Watch as George Michael plays his encore at his last concert in 2012, including Freedom, I Remember You and I’m Your Man.

George Michael, Earls Court, London 17th October 2012.

Oops.

As news.com.au reports, the actor Sarah Michelle Gellar took to Twitter to pay tribute to the musician. Only she got the wrong one.

She tweeted: “Do you really want to hurt me? I guess you do 2016. #ripboygeorge”

Updated

The politicians have begun weighing in.

You know you’re good when you have David Bowie watching on in awe.

Celebrities are paying tribute to Michael. On Instagram, Elton John said he was in “deep shock”.

The pair famously collaborated on a rendition of Elton’s classic Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, released in 1992, nearly two decades after the original.

Elton said:

I have lost a beloved friend – the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist. My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans.”

Updated

Some light relief amid the sad news:

Updated

Police have confirmed Michael’s death was not suspicious

Thames Valley police, who are investigating the death of George Michael, said officers had been called to a property in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, shortly before 2pm on Christmas Day:

Sadly, a 53-year-old man was confirmed deceased at the scene. At this stage the death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious.

Updated

The last post on Michael’s Facebook page, from last month, said he was putting the finishing touches to his special documentary film Freedom.

He has discovered some incredible, unseen archive footage and is shooting additional interviews for the project so the film will now air in March 2017.

It promises to be a real treat for fans! To coincide with the film’s broadcast, George and Sony Music have decided to move the reissue of the Listen Without Prejudice album to the same time.

Updated

Meanwhile, tributes are pouring in about Michael’s importance to the LGBTI community.

Alice Ross has filed this piece for the Guardian on Michael’s death. She writes:

Pop superstar George Michael has died peacefully at home, his publicist said.

The 53-year-old, who was set to release a documentary in 2017, rose to fame as a member of Wham!, known for their hits Club Tropicana and Last Christmas. He went on to have a highly successful solo career including the hits Careless Whisper and Outside.

Michael – whose real name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou – sold more than 100m albums throughout a career spanning almost four decades. His most recent album, Symphonica, was released in 2014.

Thames Valley police told the BBC an ambulance attended the house at 1.42pm and there were no suspicious circumstances.

In a statement, the star’s publicist said: “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.

“The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.”

Michael nearly died from pneumonia in late 2011. After receiving treatment in a Vienna hospital, he made a tearful appearance outside his London home and said it had been “touch and go” whether he lived.

Doctors had performed a tracheotomy to keep his airways open and he was unconscious for some of his spell in hospital.

Meanwhile, Michael’s 1990 album Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 had been set to be reissued, accompanied by a new film featuring Stevie Wonder, Elton John and the supermodels who starred in the video to his hit single Freedom! 90.

Read the full piece here.

Updated

The Australian music journalist Bernard Zuel is speaking on ABC News about the influence of Michael and whether he was known to be suffering from any illnesses. Zuel says:

There has been talk for years about his health, he has had a number of issues and a number of personal embarrassments that have suggested maybe there is something else going on, [being woken up by] the police in his car a couple of times.

There hasn’t been any strong suggestion that there was anything serious. He was a private man generally. It is not surprising that if he was ill for some time, we wouldn’t know.

Interviewer: Explain for us, how big a figure has he been in popular music over the past 30 years?

He is someone who went from being a popstar for teenagers to a pop star for adults. The only other male pop star from England who would challenge him and beat him in England for sales at least is Robbie Williams.

He was someone who was an international star across the world who every Christmas has his moment in the sun as Wham’s Christmas song gets played. Also you will find him on classic hits radio and in many record collections by people who don’t buy many records a year, but have George Michael’s face.

Updated

More stars react ...

https://twitter.com/duranduran/status/813162181244157957

Updated

In a lengthy interview with the Guardian features writer Simon Hattenstone, Michael opened up about fame and dysfunction.

What’s a typical day in the life of George Michael? The common perception is that he gets up late in the afternoon, gets stoned and goes cruising.

Rubbish, he says.

“The handful of times a year it’s bloody warm enough, I’ll do it. I’ll do it on a nice summer evening. Quite often there are campfires up there. It’s a much nicer place to get some quick and honest sex than standing in a bar, E’d off your tits shouting at somebody and hoping they want the same thing as you do in bed.

“DyaknowhatImean?”

Updated

The arts and media correspondent for the Observer, Vanessa Thorpe, wrote a profile of Michael before the launch of his Symphonica live album in 2014. It explored his career highs and lows, and detailed his various illnesses and scandals. She wrote:

Over the years, a careful saboteur has been at work, undermining the glittering showbusiness career of George Michael.

Frequently using the cover of night, yet sometimes speaking out boldly in broad daylight, a determined soul has been doing his best to topple the superstar. There are no prizes for spotting that, yes, Michael himself has often seemed driven to send his own popular success careening off the road into the undergrowth, like an out-of-control, top-of-the-range Range Rover with a snoozing celebrity at the wheel.

So far, Michael, still a global A-list performer with total album sales of more than 100m, has been outed after a “lewd act” in a Los Angeles public lavatory in 1998, stopped for a series of traffic offences – leading to a spell in a British jail – cautioned and fined for drugs possession and ignominiously rounded up by police for cottaging on Hampstead Heath.

He has also suffered real romantic heartbreak more than once and in the last three years has faced death at least twice, first during a devastating bout of pneumonia and then in a nasty motorway accident.

Read the full profile here.

Updated

Tributes are flowing in for Michael on Twitter as word of his death spreads.

The LGBTI charity, Stonewall, was among those to pay tribute.

George Michael dead at 53

The singer George Michael has died peacefully in his sleep, his publicist has confirmed.

Michael, age 53, passed “peacefully away at home”, the statement from his publicist said.

The Wham! singer who went on to a successful solo career sold more than 100m records worldwide.

“It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period,” the statement said.

“The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.”

According to the BBC, the South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13.42 GMT.

Police say there were no suspicious circumstances.

Updated

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