George Michael Tickets

A musical icon for thirty years, George Michael hit the big time as one half of 80s pop duo Wham!, with Andrew Ridgeley. A former DJ, Michael had performed in several bands before he and schoolfriend Ridgeley paired up in 1981, and they enjoyed massive commercial success with hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”, “Club Tropicana” and “Young Guns (Go For it)”, before splitting in 1986. Michael's first solo single had actually been two years before, in 1984, with the worldwide smash “Careless Whisper”, but his real independence began in 1987, with “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)”, a duet with his idol, Aretha Franklin. His first solo album, Faith (1987), was entirely self-written, although the lead single, “I Want Your Sex”, was banned by many radio stations for its suggestive lyrics. The second single was the album's title track and was a huge success around the world, in part down to the iconic video of Michael playing his guitar next to a jukebox in a cowboy hat and denim. He backed Faith with a successful world tour, but it also sparked the start of his infamous war record label, Sony, as Michael was unhappy with the intensity of the album's promotion and refused to do the same for subsequent albums.

Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 (1990) came out to little fanfare, Michael declining interviews and refusing to make videos to accompany the singles, except for “Freedom! 90” which , although didn't feature Michael himself, became iconic thanks to the use of his supermodel friends, including Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. Michael then began a legal dispute with Sony, unhappy with what he perceived to be a 'slavery' contract he was unable to free himself from (Michael eventually lost the case). Because of the ongoing dispute, the planned album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol.2, never materialised.

After the Five Live EP (1993), Michael went on hiatus for a while, before releasing “Jesus To A Child” in 1994, followed by “Fastlove” almost two years later in 1996,both from the album Older (1986).  1998 saw his first solo greatest hits collection, Ladies And Gentlemen, featuring the tongue-in-cheek track, “Outside”, which mocked  Michael's infamous arrest for lewd conduct inside a Hollywood public toilet earlier that year. To this point, Michael was not openly homosexual (he was afraid of the effect on his Catholic mother, who had died the year before), but following his arrest, he decided to come out.

1999's Songs From The Last Century was an album of cover tracks, and was followed by two years in the studio, producing the single “Freeek!” (2002), and  the suitably-titled album, Patience (2004), which went to No.1 in several countries and spawned the hit singles “Amazing” and “Flawless”. To celebrate his 25th anniversary in showbusiness, a second greatest hits album, Twenty Five, was released in 2006, followed by a world tour which lasted two years, and later released on DVD. He made his acting debut in the US show Eli Stone, opposite fellow Brit, Jonny Lee Miller, in 2008, in which Michael was a pivotal character, playing a heightened version of himself. Also in 2008, he released “December Song” for free on his website, then performed it a year later on The X Factor.

In March 2011, Michael released a cover version of New Order's “True Faith” in aid of Comic Relief, then Stevie Wonder's “You And I” as a 'gift' to Prince William and Kate Middleton for their April wedding. In May, he announced plans for his Symphonica Tour of Europe, although many dates had to be postponed in November when he fell ill in Austria with suspected pneumonia. These dates are yet to be rescheduled.