George Michael

Some Lesser Known Facts About George Michael

• Did George Michael smoke?: Yes

• Did George Michael drink alcohol?: Yes

• George was born to a Greek father and a Jewish mother.

• Very few people know that his first band was ‘The Executive’ (1979-80), which was formed in the summer of 1979, who played their first show on 5 November 1979, at a misty Bonfire night, in a Methodist church hall in Bushey, England. 

• After his schooling, he formed the band Wham!, with his friend Andrew Ridgeley and gave their 1st U.S. hit with “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”

• In 1986, the band split up after which he went solo and gave a hit “I Want Your Sex” with 7 million copies sold.

• In 1988, he won a Grammy Award for the song “I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me),” a duet with Aretha Franklin, and his album ‘Faith’ won the Grammy for album of the year.

• In 1998, he announced that he was gay after he was arrested for lewd conduct in a public bathroom in Beverly Hills, California.

• In 2000, he bought John Lennon’s Steinway Model Z upright piano for £1.67m, but returned it to Liverpool’s Beatles Story museum. 

• In 2008, he released his song “December Song” as a free download with a hope that people would donate money to charity.

• He was partially colour-blind and used to wear contact lenses.

• He had 11 UK #1 and sold more than 100 million albums throughout his career span.

• His last album, Symphonica, was released in 2014.

• He died on Christmas 2016, 32 years after he wrote the song ‘Last Christmas’.