Little did he know, the man born Georgios Kyriacos Panayioutou, from East Finchley in North London, would go on to be one of pop rock's greatest all time singers. He was the son of a restaurant owner that moved to England and Michaels would go on to attend Bushey Meads School.

George Michael

Jimmy got nothing made himself a name with a gun that he polished for a rainy day.

Across the Pond

Little did he know, the man born Georgios Kyriacos Panayioutou, from East Finchley in North London, would go on to be one of pop rock's greatest all time singers. He was the son of a restaurant owner that moved to England and Michaels would go on to attend Bushey Meads School.

At this school he would begin his partnership with his musical counterpart Andrew Ridgeley. As a young man, he began playing local schools and youth clubs sometimes acting as a DJ for the parties.

Start of Success

1981 would see the first signs of success from George Michael when he would produce his first dual album called Fantastic. The album would go on to reach number one in the United Kingdom and was not only a record success but also produced numerous top ten singles such as Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?) and Club Tropicana. Teamed up with his childhood friend Andrew Ridgeley, they would go on to create the group's next album called Make It Big, which would propel both of the singers into the international limelight virtually making them superstars after only their second album.

One of their songs entitled Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is still a hit song for Michaels and played on the radio up to the present. During this time, he would perform background and back up for music legends such as David Cassidy and Elton John. The group Wham would also go on tour through China in 1985 and was the first visit to China by a Western musician to the country. This visit to China would further solidify the group Wham in international stardom but would also lead to other rumors as well.

Break Up and Solo

The group Wham would actually break up in the year of 1986 but would first release a solo album that was a compilation called The Final and would also play a sellout concert at Wembley Stadium. George Michael wanted to create more than just a pop scene rock group and would decide to embark on a solo career of his own where he would play to a more sophisticated audience. He would go on to win a Grammy Award during 1988 for Best R&B Performance in the category of Duo or Group with Vocal.

He would release his first album of his solo career called Faith, of which he would write and produce every song on the record with the exception of one. He also played most of the musical instruments as well. Controversy would ensue when the first single was released from the album called I Want Your Sex. The song was not being played hardly at all across radio stations in the United States as well as the United Kingdom. MTV was also refusing to play the video during prime time and would only run the video late at night.

Even the radio disc jockey Casey Kasem would not say the title of the song when announces it on the airwaves. Although the song called much controversy, it would go on to maintain the number two position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles in 1987 and would stay in the top ten for over six weeks. His next single off of the album called Faith would also be a hit and reach number two on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as number two in the UK charts as well. With the growing success of the album, George Michael would go on to tour both the United States as well as the United Kingdom where he played songs from both his contemporary music as well as his earlier songs from the Wham era.

Did You Know

• The album called Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 was released without any type of promotion.
• It was late in his career when Michaels decided to come out and announce his homosexuality.
• He had twelve singles that were top ten hits in the UK and ten singles that were top ten hits in the US.

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