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British-born singer/songwriter George Michael began his career as a teenybopper idol in the seminal '80s pop duo Wham and later transitioned into one of the most successful solo artists of the late '80s and '90s.
Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963. He grew up in the suburbs of London, the son of a Greek father and an English mother. He and schoolmate Andrew Ridgeley formed Wham in 1982 after playing in various bands together. The duo became an instant success when their debut album, Fantastic, hit No. 1 on the U.K. charts. Throughout their four-year partnership in Wham, Michael and Ridgeley scored numerous hits on both sides of the Atlantic, including their 1984 breakthrough "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," "Careless Whisper," "Everything She Wants," "Freedom" and "I'm Your Man."
In 1986, after three albums, Michael left Wham for a solo career. His solo debut, Faith, released the following year on Columbia Records, catapulted Michael into the upper echelons of rock stardom. The controversial video to the album's first single, "I Want Your Sex," introduced Michael's sexy new leather-clad image -- less bubblegum, more razor stubble. Faith went on to sell more than eight million copies off the strength of four No. 1 singles, "Faith," "Father Figure," "One More Try" and "Monkey." When the dust settled, Michael walked away with the 1988 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Though not as commercially successful as Faith, Michael's 1990 follow-up, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, sold more than a million copies and peaked at No. 2 on the album charts. The album produced two hits, "Praying For Time" and the MTV favorite, "Freedom 90." In 1991 Michael hit No. 1 again with a duet version of Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," recorded live with John.
A year after the release of Listen Without Prejudice, Michael sued Sony Music, the new owners of his label, Columbia, charging that Sony was not promoting his music adequately. Michael lost the case after a bitter court battle and ended up buying his way out of the $12-million Sony contract.
A little lighter in the pockets, Michael signed with the then-fledgling DreamWorks Records to release his third album, 1996's Older (which later appeared in repackaged form in 1998 as Older & Upper.
In 1998 Michael became the center of media attention when he faced charges of lewd conduct after being arrested by Beverly Hills police in a public restroom. Beleaguered by questions concerning his sexuality, a few days after his arrest Michael publicly announced on CNN that he was, in fact, a homosexual.
A double-CD greatest hits compilation, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael , was released in late 1998.
