25 June: George Michael

The late singer George Michael was born in 1963, meaning he would have been 58 today. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. His real name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.
2. He was born in East Finchley in London. His father was a restaurateur called Kyriacos Panayiotou, who'd moved to England in the 1950s. His mother was a dancer called Lesley Angold. Her mother was Jewish, but had raised her children with no knowledge of their Jewish background because of the persecution during World War 2.
3. George attended Bushey Meads School in Bushey, which is where he met his future Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley. Before the duo formed Wham! in 1981, they were part of a short-lived ska band called The Executive, with Andrew's brother Paul, Andrew Leaver, and David Mortimer.
4. Wham! split in 1986 after several massive hits including Young Guns, Wham Rap!, Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Freedom, and Careless Whisper. Their last single was The Edge of Heaven.
5. Michael's first hit as a solo artist was I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), a duet with Aretha Franklin, in 1987. He released five studio albums: Faith, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, Older, Songs from the Last Century and Patience.
6. Michael cited David Cassidy as one of his major career influences. He sang backing vocals on Cassidy's hit The Last Kiss in 1985. He also contributed background vocals to Elton John's hit Nikita.
7. He wrote Careless Whisper when he was 17 and working as a cinema usher. He wrote the song on the Bus on the way to work.
8. George Michael did a lot for charity and donated millions. He was involved in very public charity events like Band Aid, but most of what he did was anonymous and it only came out after he'd died just how many good causes he supported. He donated to Childline, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Terrence Higgins Trust. There were several occasions when he stepped up and donated thousands to ordinary people when he happened to learn they were in need. He once gave a barmaid a £5,000 tip when he overheard that she was a student nurse and was in debt. Another time he heard a woman crying in a cafe about her outstanding debts and wrote her a cheque for £25,000. He bought the Piano John Lennon played on the single Imagine and donated it to The Beatles' Story museum in Liverpool.
9. He was known as a gay man, but as a young man he was also attracted to women and described himself as bisexual. He dated a lot of women but his only longer term girlfriend was Kathy Jeung, who was described as his muse in the 1980s. In 1992 he started a relationship with Anselmo Feleppa, a Brazilian dress designer, who sadly died from an AIDS-related brain haemorrhage. George's single Jesus to a Child is a tribute to Feleppa. His next long term partner was Kenny Goss, a former flight attendant and sportswear executive. At the time of his death, he was in a relationship with Fadi Fawaz, an Australian hairstylist and photographer.
10. He was just 53 when he died of natural causes at his home in Goring-on-Thames, on Christmas Day 2916. George was buried at Highgate Cemetery in north London, near his mother.

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