George Michael is back on the block; with Sony in the recording studio, at European concert stages on a sold out tour and in the scandal rags. What about his 80s hits?
Creepy and painful negative headlines fire across the newswires about this 80s icon who has fallen from grace. The former Wham! front man’s woes also entail a rumour he will be dropped by Sony Music.
Michael is in the midst of his 50-date sold out 25 LIVE world tour, which kicked off in Spain last month. This is Michael’s first tour in 15 years and it will interconnect with the release of a new album commemorating his 25 years in the biz.
With Sony, Michael has made 75 million in record sales (and those are British pounds), not to mention his time with Virgin music. The Virgin days were the result of Michael taking Sony to court and leaving them for several years, accusing them of “professional slavery.”
Back in the day, before George Michael even released his sensational debut solo album, Faith (1987), Michael’s bold, golden voice resounded on the impossibly titled Wake Me Up Before You Go- Go.
Wham!, consisting of Michael and Andrew Ridgley, alongside their funky and fashionable back up singers, were regulars in the UK, premiering with 1981’s Fantastic! ,which offered pre Vanilla Ice white boy rapping with their single Wham Rap.
By the time Michael released Careless Whisper in 1984, the solo single from the band’s Make it Big album, it signalled the impending, inevitable demise of the band who had helped usher in the 80s UK invasion, in an upbeat, neon-coloured rush alongside the likes of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and The Cure.
Michael wrote Careless Whisper at the tender age of 17. In 1995, the song was awarded the title of favourite song ever by London’s Evening Standard newspaper. While the song remained an 80s classic, 1987’s Faith would go on to garner Michael multiple hits including the title track Faith (UK #2, US #2), I Want Your Sex (U.K. #2, U.S. #3), and Father Figure (UK #11, US #1), these and other tracks would spawn award winning videos for Michael and were the meat on the bones of a fully formed album – a rare feat in today’s music industry.
