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George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist.
He is regarded as a pop culture icon and is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, with estimated sales between 100 million to 125 million records worldwide
Michael rose to fame after forming the pop duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981.
Michael embarked on a successful solo career, starting with his iconic single “Careless Whisper” (1984), which topped the charts in over 20 countries.
Michael achieved 10 number-one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100 and 13 number-one songs on the UK Singles Chart.
His distinctive voice, creative songwriting, and captivating visual presentations contributed to his immense popularity.
He won numerous music awards, including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards.
Michael’s impact on music and culture remains significant.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.
When did George Michael die?
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Michael died at home on Dec. 25, 2016.
How did George Michael die?
In the days following Michael’s death, an autopsy was conducted that led to “inconclusive” results.
At the time, the Thames Valley police released a statement saying that Michael’s death was “unexplained but not suspicious.”
Over the next few months, extensive additional testing was done, which ultimately determined Michael’s death to be from natural causes.
According to the coroner investigating the singer’s death, Michael had been suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.
Where did George Michael die?
Michael was found dead at his home in Goring-on-Thames, a village part of South Oxfordshire, England.
His lifeless body was discovered by his boyfriend Fadi Fawaz, who says he found Michael unconscious in bed.
According to a 911 call, Fawaz tried to wake Michael up for an hour before calling paramedics.
Once speaking to the emergency dispatcher, Fawaz said that the singer was “cold” and “blue.”
When the operator asked Fawaz if he believed Michael was “beyond help,” he explained how he had spent an “hour” trying to revive him and now believed he was “gone
In the following days, Fawaz tweeted about the situation, writing that it had been difficult to spend Christmas morning trying to revive his partner.
How old was George Michael when he died?
He was 53 years old at the time of his death.
What were George Michael’s last words?
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In the days leading up to Michael’s death, he was working on a documentary about his life, which was later titled George Michael: Freedom.
The 90-minute documentary aired nearly a year after his death and shared some of Michael’s final conversations.
In it, he opened up about the death of his first love, Anselmo, and his mother, Lesley.
Michael also shared that he felt like he had been “picked on by the gods.”
He described the time between Feleppa’s AIDS diagnosis and his mother’s death as some of his life’s darkest moments.
“From the day I found out about my partner to the day I can say I was on the mend from my mother, it was just constant fear.
It was either fear of death or fear of the next bereavement,” he recalled. “I’d never felt that kind of depression. It was the darkest time.”
Why was there speculation surrounding George Michael’s death?
In the months that followed Michael’s death, the public raised suspicions about the cause.
Some fans suspected his death had to do with Michael’s prior drug usage.
In 2008, Michael had been arrested for drug possession and later admitted to The Guardian that he had been smoking crack cocaine at the time.
Then after a 2010 car accident, for which he was charged with driving while unfit through drink or drugs, he spent four months in jail — and decided he needed to make a change
Georgiou also speculated that Fawaz had something to do with Michael’s death, despite the Thames Valley police sharing that Michael’s death was “not suspicious.”
This led to harsh criticism of Fawaz in the media, and he later shared that it had been “tough, shocking, and upsetting” to be vilified by the public.
In addition to speculation that Michael’s death may have been drug-related, others believed Michael may have died by suicide.
Fawaz later stated that his account had been hacked and he had never sent the tweets.
How did the public react to George Michael’s death?
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Following the news of Michael’s death, there was an outpouring of love from friends, family, and the public.
Celebrities like Elton John, Madonna, and Ellen DeGeneres all spoke out about his death.
Melissa Etheridge shared that she believed Michael’s “beautiful voice and his beautiful face and his beautiful moves and his beautiful music were such a gift.”
James Corden told PEOPLE that Michael was the inspiration for Carpool Karaoke, sharing that he “felt incredibly lucky to be in his orbit for a moment.”
Meanwhile, those local to Michael’s neighborhood gathered outside his home, leaving flowers, teddy bears, cards, and photos.
Neighbors remembered him fondly and said they had often seen him around town walking his dogs and sometimes attending Christmas Eve mass.
“Most of my dealings were with his staff, and George employed really decent people and treated them with respect.
He regarded them as part of the family and was kind and generous to them.
He was a very good neighbor,” one neighbor told PEOPLE.