httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUecH8aBRzI
Photo George Michael, the creamy-voiced English songwriter who sold tens of millions of albums in the duo Wham! and on his own, died Sunday at his home in Goring in Oxfordshire, England, a statement from his publicist said.
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.”
He went on to try and repudiate pop superficiality, turning to more mature statements – but never abandoning songs about love and lust – in his later solo career.
Mr. Michael wrote supple ballads, like “Careless Whisper” and “Father Figure,” as well as buoyant dance tracks like “Freedom ’90” and “I Want Your Sex.” For much of his career, including his best-selling albums “Faith” and “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1,” he was also his own producer and studio backup band.
Mr. Michael won a Grammy Award for “I Knew You Were Waiting,” a duet with Aretha Franklin, and his 1987 album “Faith” won the Grammy as album of the year.
In 1998, Mr. Michael came out as a gay man after being arrested on charges of lewd conduct in a men’s room in Beverly Hills.
During the 2000s, Mr. Michael’s output slowed; his last studio album of new songs was “Patience” in 2004.