George Michael

And So the Story Begins

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou was born on June 25, 1963 to a Greek father and an English mother. He has two sisters. While his father operated a lucrative London restaurant, George fostered a close relationship with his mother. She remained an active supporter of his career until her death in 1997.

WHAM!

George Michael began his singing career with a band called The Executive, but it wasn't until he teamed up with classmate Andrew Ridgeley to form the duo WHAM! that he found success. In 1981, the Fantastic! album was released, and the name George Michael became synonymous with the phrase "smash hit".

WHAM! continued to fill concert halls and sell records until 1986 when the duo broke up and George began his solo career.

Gotta Have Faith

In 1987, George Michael released the first of seven albums (as of 2006). Not only did Faith earn the Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) Diamond Award for selling more than 10 million copies, four singles from the album reached the top of the US Top 100 Chart. Those singles are:

• Faith
• Father Figure
• Monkey
• One More Try

Notoriety & Thrown Out of the Closet

Not all of the publicity surrounding George has been positive. In 1998 he was arrested in Beverly Hills for engaging in a lewd act in a public restroom. He pled no contest to the charges, did community service, and paid a modest fine. Those were the least of his worries. The press used his arrest as a catalyst for thrusting him out of the homosexual closet and into the limelight. George Michael then admitted his sexual preference and gave I Want Your Sex a whole new meaning to fans everywhere.

You would think the first arrest for lewd acts would have taught the singer to keep his pants on, but in July 2006, George again made headlines, this time for reportedly enjoying a romp in a public park with a 58-year-old van driver. While he has denied the incident has had a negative impact on his 10-year relationship with Kenny Gross, their impeding nuptials have been put on hold.

Onward and Upward

With 25 years of success behind him, George Michael is still going strong. He is scheduled to go on tour for the first time in 15 years. The European tour is scheduled for 50 stops between September 23 and December, 2006. This tour coincides with the release of his seventh album, Hits 25.

George Michael Trivia

• While Michael's singles have been met with mixed reviews by US fans, all but four of his more than 35 singles have ranked in the top 50 on the UK singles chart.
• Per PlanetGeorge.org, one of this singer's nicknames is TLTI, which stands for "The Legend That Is".
• George Michael is left handed.