Singer-songwriter George Michael would have been 60 today

George Michael, who was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou doesn’t need a birthday remembrance to live on in the hearts of his fans. For the record, though, June 25, 2023 would have marked the singer-songwriter’s 60th birthday. He had sold more than a 100 million records worldwide, due to his 13 chart-toppers on the UK Singles Chart and 10 number one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100.

He was part of the music duo Wham before he took up an equally successful solo career. Wham’s albums Fantastic and Make it Big struck gold back in 1983 and 1984 respectively and had the world jiving to their hit singles in the albums, namely Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Last Christmas. Wham’s Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael were the first two Western pop artists to tour China in 1985. That alone gave them media coverage across the world.

His first solo song that catapulted him to golden heights was the 1984 hit single, Careless Whisper, but he had to wait till 1987 when his first album, Faith, hit the big time both in the UK and US, with it staying at the top spot in the Billboard 200 for three months! The album had four hit singles in it and sold more than 25 million copies. These included Faith, Father Figure, One More Try and Monkey. The album won the coveted Album of the Year award at the Grammys in 1989.

George Michael went on to release three more albums, all of which attracted a lot of attention. His second album sold 8 million copies and included his worldwide hit single, Freedom! 90. His duet with Elton John, another British singer in 1991, titled, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, was another huge hit all over the world. During this time, he also won several important music awards and was declared the most played music artist for twenty years starting 1984.

It wasn’t until 1998 that George came out of the closet and proclaimed to the world that he was gay. Around that same time, he was always in trouble on the personal front and that included drug use and legal hassles. But, he finally came to terms with his personal issues and even had a documentary covering his highly successful music career and his life called A Different Story. He was also an active LGBT rights campaigner and raised funds for HIV and AIDS.