On Christmas Day 2016, music legend George Michael passed away

Michael formed the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. The band’s first two albums, Fantastic (1983) and Make It Big (1984), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. Michael’s first solo single “Careless Whisper” reached number one in over 20 countries, including the UK and US.

Michael’s debut solo album Faith was released in 1987, topping the UK Albums Chart, and staying at number one on the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks. Four singles from the album, “Faith”, “Father Figure”, “One More Try”, and “Monkey” reached number one on the BillboardHot 100. It won Album of the Year at the 31st Grammy Awards. Three years after the release of Faith, 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.

Goddamn I miss him. Losing Bowie, Prince, and George Michael in the same year was tough for me, I adored all three. George's death seemed to barely register; it was a month and a half after the 2016 election and it felt like everyone was either still in shock or bracing for a DJT presidency. The news cycles were so full, GM's death barely got coverage.

R2. I remember the media coverage of George's Michael's death to be fairly extensive especially since it happened on Christmas Day so there wasn't a whole lot of other news. As I recall, George Michael's death was very big news and quite shocking. I would be interested to see how others remember the coverage.

It was a big loss. George Michael made quite an impact as did Bowie and Prince. I actually thought David Bowie's death didn't get enough coverage, but perhaps that's just my selective memory. I wasn't much of a fan of Prince, but his coverage was extensive; it just didn't affect me all that much other than it was shocking.

I never realized how talented George was until after he died. I just wasn't into popular culture over the years once I got out of my 20s, which is quite a while ago now. I happened to see one of his song videos on YouTube and clicked it. I was shocked at how much I liked it so that was what got me started back tracking through the years into all of George's catalog. I think he was the most talented singer/writer of these last decades and such a shame he was so troubled in his life. In hindsight, I don't think the press covered his death all that much past the initial news reporting that he had died. I thought Prince's coverage was never going to end. It went on for weeks and weeks. I never cared much for Bowie so don't recall how it was covered when he passed.

R4 I am another one that had no idea how talented George was until he passed away. In fact I was shocked when I started to listen to his catalog of music plus researching his history. I have no interest in his personal life. After all I am sure we all have skeletons in our closet if we are being honest with ourselves. However, his voice, how he seems to feel every note he sings, whether it is one of his masterpieces or a cover of another artist he owns every single word. It is a shame America wasn’t aware of his musical capabilities until he passed away. There is no doubt it is our loss that he died so young. I am sure he had so much more to offer his fans.

WHET his hustler boyfriend who lost his mind after the family kicked him out of George's mansion with nothing but the clothes on his back! Poor guy.

How the hell could you have been unaware of George Michael's music? If you lived through the 80s and 90s it's unbelievable you wouldn't have heard it.

My all time favorite song by George Michael is still "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" which is technically by Wham, their first big hit, went to #1, earned them a gold record, and put them firmly on the music map. Love that catchy song and have a special place in my heart for it.

What the hell did he die from, anyway?

George really was talented. Andrew was just a pretty face that looked good in videos. He contributed nothing musically, which is why he had zero success on his own after George went solo. It was obvious that George was the brains and talent behind Wham!

Poor girl. She looked like a blobfish at the time of her death.

Drank himself to death.

Wasn't he more of a druggie than a drinker?

He looked awful at the end, very bloated.

Yep. Clearly her main organs were failing before she died.

Basically the same thing that happened to Elvis. At least George was in bed and not on the shitter.

R5 I'm glad you posted as I thought I was the only one to not have known about George before his death. I noticed the same thing as you. George was one of those top echelon singers who isn't just singing a song. On everything he recorded it sounds like he was feeling every word. I don't think the public really appreciated him as much as they should have for this quality. There are so many songs I wish he would have had time to record. I guess we're lucky to have what we do, but it's a true shame about his early death.

Hot Greek-British trash. Did not age well.

Was there ever any consensus if he was Poz or not? I know that was not his cause of death.

I was very disappointed in how little coverage George’s death got, probably because it was on Xmas, and how few commemorative mags were printed, etc. I thought he deserved the works.

I was extremely moved by the elegant gravestone that was recently put down for him. Especially that it used his real name, and was so simple. I didn’t expect to be so affected when I saw it, but I absolutely loved his music from the age of 12 onward. I thought the stone was beautiful.

R20 I saw George's gravestone too and also that of his sister. I thought it was very nice, and I never had criticism towards the father for waiting this long to do it. No one would have wanted multitudes of people trampling through a private family grave area. I'm sure most people would have been respectful, but it's always those few who ruin everything. This way enough time has passed where it doesn't seem to have been an issue.

What happened to his sister?

R22 George's sister, Melanie, died suddenly on Christmas Day exactly three years after her brother. That makes two children his father lost on Christmas. She was found dead at home by the surviving sister as I recall. The cause of death wasn't made public for a long time, but it was finally released that she died in a diabetic coma.

She probably ate herself to death so she could join her brother in hell.

R16 George had a merciful death compared to the indignity of how Elvis died. Prince is the one who went out like Elvis. People had to have gone through the entire police report when it was dumped in the public domain to understand how bad off Prince really was. He was taking so much fentanyl that he was constipated all the time. The cops searched all of Paisley and took thousands of photos. Prince's private bathroom was dirty with used enemas in the trash. If he had put items in the laundry the cops wouldn't have found anything past that, but Prince put soiled towels out in the trash. The cops found it and laid it out to take photos. They took pics of the used enema sticks for "evidence." I speak of this because Prince died trying to protect the false myth he built around himself. The persona the public knew was not the real person.

Elvis and Prince were two of a kind in that they both had a deeply spiritual side, but it was overshadowed by a stronger profane part of their personality. In the end they were both done in by it.

[quote]George had a merciful death compared to the indignity of how Elvis died.

True, dying on the shitter is so embarrassing. At least George was in bed.

And George didn't perform in his last years so people didn't see how awful he looked, unlike Elvis. We never saw fat, bloated George on stage slurring his way through his songs and forgetting the lyrics. He was pretty reclusive at the end.

lots of people die on the toilet. straining while going to the toilet can cause a fatal event like a heart attack for older people who are weak or can be the result of an event already happening. lots of people who die in their own homes are found on the toilet. also, dying can make one need to go. also, being constipated causing internal pressure, which can lead to an event in those who are already frail. you don' t have to be a drug addict to have this happen. death is death. it has little dignity in the common sense of the word because it s a separation from the body, a total loss of physical control.

I was saddened by Bowie dying, especially when he was obviously firing on all cylinders musically. I listened to Blackstar a great deal for months after his death.

I was even more saddened by Prince dying. I had saw him in concert for the very first time just months before. He was so incredibly talented.

But, George dying was bigger for me than those two. A song of his was playing at work a few weeks ago, and I mentioned how the 5th anniversary of his death was coming up. The day passed without me realising. I just saw this thread.

A mural of George smoking a blunt was erected on the side of Paul Mac's (Aussie musician/producer) home in 2016, but was sadly permanently ruined months after the passing of the plebiscite legalising gay marriage in Australia. There were a few plays/musicals based on those events. Scotty Marsh put up a new mural a year ago on the same wall of George riding a unicorn. I'm not as crazy about it because George has baby arms. But I appreciate the sentiment.

Never heard of him.

R28 I was never big on Bowie, but I agree with you about "Blackstar." He definitely saved his best for last.

R19 No consensus on that. Just a lot of speculation, which can't be backed up by any proof.

Absolutely love Bowie and was devasted when he died, but couldn't / still can't bring myself to listen to Blackstar.

George Michael's and Prince's death were also both terrible; especially G.M. for me. Knew and loved him since the 1980s. But what honestl shocked me the most were those DL threads with predictions and blind items, especially right before Prince died and about him. Sometimes DL is terrifyingly smart.

If Prince had been a woman people would have commented that he must be anorexic. He was horribly thin and looked very unwell. You can go back to boards where people posted George would be dead in ten years if he didn't get himself straightened out, and they were pretty much right on the mark timewise. It's pretty obvious when someone is self destructing in front of the public.

R32 What a cheesy cunt you are. Deaths are never terrible. They are inevitable. I wish you'd die today, cunt,.

^^^ ff

I listen to George’s music all the time including all the wonderful covers he did. George’s Wham’s songs were actually as good as his solo work. At the time I really don’t think people really appreciated all his songs but they have become classics and quite relevant in today’s world. He was extremely talented and gifted. You can’t teach what came naturally to George. I wish people would focus solely on his music and leave his personal life alone. After all don’t we all have skeletons in our closets or better yet are you perfect?

R36 I agree with you about how wonderful all of George's covers are. I wish he would have recorded the American Songbook and so many other wonderful tunes from long ago. He had a real talent for it. I've studied his personal life in detail and none of it was for the purpose to judge him. He was flawed the same as we all are so nothing new or shocking about that. I studied him to try and understand how he thought and must have felt. You're right that people didn't fully appreciate his talent while he was here. I know he sold millions of records but on a deeper level a real understanding of his abilities came after his death. He'll always be my favorite modern artist.

Gurls. Watch this. This is talent.

His politics were fantastic too and he gave loads of money to charity. I think he was too smart to be a pop star and that was his downfall ultimately. He was absolutely gorgeous in his prime.

R38 One of the very few who could come onstage with Queen and be as good as Freddie Mercury. Freddie's real talent didn't fully go on display until he teamed up with Montserrat Caballe the opera singer. I've got the album they made together. There is a song on it called "Ensueno." Anyone reading this who doesn't know what I'm talking about needs to go to YT and download this beautiful duet. It's such a shame Freddie was gone already at only age 45 and then George only a little older at 53.

In this tribute performance George knew his then partner, Anslemo, had AIDS and was dying. Anselmo refused to get his treatment in the UK or the states and always went back to his home country of Brazil. He died there from a brain hemorrhage leaving George to get the news by phone. George always felt that had Anselmo gotten treatment in England or America he might have lived long enough to get in on the advancements that came later which prolonged people's lives. This is one of the things that hung over George all his life. The young George Michael daydreamed of fame as something that would protect him from anything bad happening. He thought if he got famous enough he would be untouchable. Now you contrast that with the reality of what happened to Anselmo, and it makes it easier to understand how George started the slow cycle downward. His fame had a direct impact on decisions Anselmo made regarding his treatment options. Those decisions resulted in an earlier death than might have other wise been if George had not be famous.

R37 STFU. Flawed like we all are?, fucking moron. Most of us are not lifelong addicts of everything and who also throw ourselves out of cars.

Rather than dwell on how he ended, would rather concentrate and remember George Michael for the great talent and human being he was.

Hadn't heard about it.