George Michael's interview in Russian. George Michael: handsome, talented, successful and unhappy

In recent years famous singer more than once faced with the fact that his personal life, its discussion in the press and rumors were out of control. Most likely, this was what prompted George to give one of his most candid interviews Gay Times magazine.

In it, he spoke very frankly about his personal life, that before public recognition of his orientation, he had only 3 girls, why it was so hard for him to confess his addictions to his parents, that the massive spread of AIDS forced him to end his relationship girls and why he was never interested in his Wham! Andrew Ridgeley.

Translation into Russian especially for you!

George was already 29 years old when he confessed everything to his parents. His mother's fears that her only son might inherit the "gay gene" overshadowed her life: the singer's uncle (her brother Collin) was gay and committed suicide.

“My mother was always afraid that I was gay,” says George. “She was madly afraid that I would be the same as her brother, which accordingly meant that I would not fight for my life. She almost physically felt that she had passed this gene on to me. Therefore, for such sensitive issues she largely supported and even shaped her father’s position – homophobia.”

George Michael with his mother and father

“There was a gay waiter above the restaurant our family ran, I was strictly forbidden to go up to the top floor when he was in the restaurant. She was very afraid that I would accidentally pick up his lifestyle, so that I would not become gay.”

“Knowing my father, I can say that he never even imagined that his son could be gay, simply because it could not be, because we are a Greek Cypriot family. But the mother was very afraid of the anger and condemnation of the father. Now I already understand that she was simply afraid that this gene in me, if there is one, it will lead me to the same thing that led Collina.”

The song "My Mother Had A Brother" from the album Patience George dedicated to his deceased uncle.

“My mother didn’t tell me about my uncle until I was 16. I don't know if it was her conscious decision or if she just couldn't muster up the courage. When I found out everything, it radically changed my opinion of her, because she saw her own father die as well. They both ended their lives by gassing, and the mother was “fortunate” to find the corpses of both of them.”

“She spent years remorseful that time cannot be turned back. And for the last 20 years of my life, I think we have not said a single harsh word to each other.”

In an interview, George said that he was able to confess everything to his parents only after the death of Anselmo Felippe, a Brazilian designer, his first love. They met at the Rock in Rio festival in 1991. 6 months later, Anselmo found out that he was ill. And in 1993, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage, which provoked the disease.

Anselmo Felippe

George remembers those times:
“I sat at the table not knowing if the person I love madly was sick, if I myself was sick. It was probably the loneliest time of my life.”

He was so overwhelmed by the loss of Anselmo that he was no longer afraid of how his parents would react to the confession of homosexuality and finally decided to write them a letter.

“I wrote them a 4 page letter and it was one of the easiest things I have ever written. It was the only unresolved issue - to confess everything to the parents.” says George.

"Mother said it was the most lovely letter that she has ever read, that it fully explains my feelings and that she need not worry about me. It was the simplest act, although it should have been one of the most difficult. I should ask my father to show me that letter again!”

Brooke Shields

IN early years in wham! George had girls. He dated actress Brooke Shields, model Pat Fernandes, and make-up artist Kathy Jeung. In addition to them, he still met with men.

At the peak of his success, he became so afraid of AIDS that he himself described his personal life at that time as "rubbish" (nonsense, nonsense).

“I only had three girls, but I still looked for sex on the side. True, as a result, this only happened when I was busy with completely different issues. When I got drunk, I toyed with the idea of ​​being bisexual. But then HIV appeared and I could no longer sleep with a woman without warning her that I had also slept with men. To be honest, my interest in women wasn't strong enough to have such conversations, so I just stopped sleeping altogether.
As a result, I had practically no sex between 1985 and 1994, except for Anselmo, my first partner, to whom I was absolutely faithful.”

Interestingly, at school everyone thought Andrew Ridgeley was gay, not George: “Andrew liked extravagant clothes. He came to school in cherry silk pants. Everyone around whispered “is he gay?”, And I answered “no, what are you!”

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley

“He was handsome, but not in a way that attracted me. He was too sweet, too charming, too elegant. I can understand why a lot of people think we slept together – but he liked women.”

When the two friends became famous as Wham!, George felt that admitting his true sexuality could be detrimental to their careers.

“I spent a lot of nerves. I wanted to tell everyone everything, but I had no idea how successful we would become. And in general, it was beyond understanding. I was about 20, and we were already the most successful group in Europe and for two years the most successful pop group in America. And if your goal is to become the best-selling artist in America, then you will not try to complicate it even more.”

Until a certain time, he did just that. But only up to a certain point. In April 1998, George was arrested, and later charged, with attempting to persuade a plainclothes policeman to have sex in public toilet. It was the most shocking coming-out imaginable. In addition, it was aggravated by the fact that at that time George had already found his new love- Kenny Goss. The beginning of their relationship coincided with the death of George's mother from cancer.

George Michael and Kenny Goss

“I met Kenny three years after Anselmo left. I called my mother to tell (about Kenny) and she told me she had cancer. She claimed that he was at a very early stage, but that was not true. I was on my knees again. Terrible."

George's life has always been an emotional roller coaster. And the recent court case is no exception. At first he is judged and the continuation of his tour is a big question. The court then decides on a fine, community service and disqualification, and the next day George opens the refurbished Wembley Stadium. Now he plans to work as he sees fit and officially register his relationship with Kenny, despite the fact that he constantly denies rumors about the upcoming ceremony.

“This will be just our ceremony, we are not Sonny and Cher. And I don’t want any more trouble, believe me, I will try.”

The singer recalled how he felt after he found out that Anselm Fleppa had AIDS.

Photo: Legion-Media.ru George Michael

In memory of George Michael, I decided to post my article about him from my own book (which is "GAYS: they changed the world"). In the end, there is not much biographical information about him on the Internet - let my article be available to anyone who wants to read about him. And goodbye, George. I will always love your songs.

George Michael: A Man Without Weaknesses
In one of the early songs of George Michael there is such a line If you "re gonna do it do it right (If you're going to do something, do it right). This principle can be safely called the musician's life credo. He rarely pleases fans with new albums , but they are always the most High Quality and certainly occupy the first lines in the national charts. His clips are invariably spectacular, perfectly directed and thought out to the smallest detail. And if he gets involved in a scandal, it must certainly be the loudest and grandiose scandal, with the police, handcuffs, a court verdict - and a hit single at the exit. Definitely, George Michael cannot be called a man of half measures: everything he does, he does it right.

“My father came here for easy money. I guess the beginning of the game for mom was quite unfortunate. They started dating and she took his name. Here," is how the musician sings in the autobiographical song Round Here, dedicated to his childhood and the place where he grew up - East Finchley in North London. Indeed, at the beginning life together George's parents, Kyriakos Panayiot and his wife, Leslie Angold Harrison, had a hard time. Kyriakos, a native Cypriot, arrived in England in the 1950s with empty pockets, hoping to get rich quick. Having got a job in a restaurant, after some time he opened his own eatery, which served the most common fast food in England - fish and chips. Living in an apartment building above the laundry, the family grew rapidly. First, two girls were born, Yoda and Melanie, and the last, on June 25, 1963, a boy, Georgios Kyriakos. However, the name Georgios could hardly pronounce correctly even own mother, not to mention the teachers and classmates, so he quickly turned into George.

The parents worked very hard and saved every penny to provide a decent future for the children, and when George was about a year old, the family moved into their own house in the same area. At the age of nine, the violin appeared in George's life. It is curious that up to this point the boy had shown absolutely no interest in music, but he was very interested in insects and could boast of pronounced mathematical abilities. Everything changed after he once fell down the stairs at school during a break and hit his head on the battery. Mathematical abilities disappeared without a trace, but the musical ones began to progress rapidly, and very soon music became George's main hobby. Contributed to this and the songs that he listened to. George recalls that the first two records that were presented to him as a child for some holiday were compositions by Tom Jones and The Supremes - the boy listened to them to the holes. “And after all, in the end, I ended up somewhere between Tom Jones and The Supremes in terms of style,” he concluded already at the peak of his career.

Another fateful event happened to him at the age of twelve, when the family moved again, to the London suburb of Radlett, and in new school George was seated at the same desk as Andrew Ridgeley. The boys quickly became friends, and the active, groovy Andrew began to have a great influence on the quiet and inconspicuous bespectacled George. “Before we met Andrew, I never thought about my appearance, about manners and monstrous isolation, - says George Michael. “I was immediately struck by how cool he always looked, and this was the impetus for my reincarnation.” George himself doubts that he would have achieved worldwide success if not for Andrew. Having no special musical talents, but he was very ambitious, punchy and always told a friend that they would certainly become famous.

And so it happened. First, George and Andrew and a few other guys created The group Executive, but it broke up very quickly, failing to interest any record company with its work. Then the friends decided that for musical career they don't need other musicians - two of them will suffice. This is how the duo Wham! - in 1981, when the guys were eighteen years old. In 1982, their debut single Wham! Rap (Enjoy What You Do), dedicated to the problem of youth unemployment, and in 83, the first Fantastic! George later recalled how, after appearing on television, in the popular musical program Top of the Pops, where Wham! hit by accident - instead of someone who canceled his speech, he walked up and down London's Oxford Street in the hope that someone from passers-by would recognize him.

After Top of the Pops, they really began to recognize them and Andrew, moreover, they turned into real idols of youth. Very young, cheerful and pretty, they literally attracted fans with their energy and released groovy, dynamic hits one after another. If their first album was an unconditional success in England, then the second (Make it Big) has already thundered all over the world, being in first place in the US chart. The duo went on a world tour, reaching China in 1985 - they were the first Western pop artists to find themselves in this country. Most of all they remember in China the unusual silence during concerts, as well as the attempt of the host to pay them off with bicycles.

Roles in Wham! distributed perfectly. George completely took over the musical side - he wrote music and lyrics, played, sang. As he later said: “For a twenty-year-old guy, I did a lot: I was a producer, arranger; I knew how to make these records so they could play on the radio. But because I wore ridiculous shorts and earrings in my ears, no one wanted to notice it. Andrew was mainly required to dance and sing along to the beat, but he was the main image of the duo, on which the lion's share of their popularity depended. It was he who in 1984 insisted that the duo change the image of angry young people in leather jackets to fashionable and stylish playboys, which immediately began to frantically copy other youth pop groups. George believes that the success of Wham! largely achieved thanks to the fact that friendly relations The ones that connected him to Andrew were real - and the audience felt it. They spoke the same language, they were amused by the same jokes, they understood each other perfectly - and this commonality gave George inspiration to write new hits with the same charge of energy.

Of course, later, when George stopped hiding his orientation, the question arose whether he and Andrew had something more than friendship. To this he always answered in the negative. “There is nothing less like the truth. And in general, Andrew is absolutely not my type. In addition, at that time, George still could not decide whether he was gay or still bisexual, and the tabloids were full of reports that he had affairs with Brooke Shields, model Cathy Jung and other women. Andrew began dating Bananarama band member Karen Woodward, with whom, by the way, he still lives.

Friends always told each other that they should leave at the peak of their careers - before they turn into a parody of themselves. They both understood that their duet was strictly limited to a youth audience - and did not have the opportunity to reach a more serious and adult level. In addition, it began to show more and more that only George was the real musician of the two of them. While still on the crest of popularity as part of a duet, he has already recorded two solo singles, one of which, Careless Whisper, which still sounds on many radio stations, was invented by him at the age of seventeen. Also, separately from Andrew George, he sang a duet with Elton John on the song of the last Don "t Let the Sun Go Down on Me on charity concert in favor of the starving Ethiopia, and from him in 1985 he received a statuette of Ivor Novello as a reward, having been awarded the title " Best Author of the year". The collapse of the duet was a foregone conclusion, the only question remained - when. As a result, they, as expected, left at the peak of popularity, recording a farewell hit single The Edge of Heaven and giving a concert at Wembley Stadium in the summer of 1986 for an audience of 72,000.

For Andrew Ridgeley, this was a big blow - it is clear that he alone, without a gifted friend, did not have a successful musical career, which was proved by the unnoticed solo album which he released in 1990. However, he survived it with dignity, he did not break off relations with George - they still communicate warmly, and his photograph is on the mantelpiece at George's house.

For George it began new round careers. To clearly draw the line between Wham! and his solo work, he recorded the song I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) with Aretha Franklin in early 1987, becoming the first white artist to sing with this African-American soul diva. In the same 1987, his most commercially successful album, Faith, was released, which eventually reached the status of a diamond - to date, more than twenty million copies of it have been sold worldwide. The album was literally crammed with super hits, one after another soaring to the top of the charts; in addition, the image that George demonstrated in the video for the song of the same name became one of the most recognizable and memorable images in pop music of the eighties: sunglasses, stubble, a cross in the ear, a leather jacket, cowboy boots, a guitar and Levi's especially eye-catching tight jeans. “I knew that I was doing more adult music, and deluded myself into not thinking that I would become a sex idol for a new generation of young girls all over the world. Although what I wanted was swinging my ass on the screen ... And my ass is really pretty, ”George recalled in the documentary A Different Story.

Not without the first in the career of George Michael major scandal. The text of the single I Want Your Sex turned out to be too shocking, especially for conservative America (how is it possible to sing directly that you want sex from someone; that “sex is natural and good”!). The song was refused play on many radio stations; MTV showed the clip only late in the evening and at night, and one of the presenters of this TV channel refused to say the name of the song out loud at all, calling it "George Michael's new single." George even had to shoot an intro to the video, in which he explained that we were not talking about promiscuous sex at all - and could well refer to monogamous relationships. However, all these obstacles did not prevent the single from taking second place in the US chart and third in English.

The Faith album brought George a huge number of awards, including the Grammy, made him even richer and more famous - the most popular pop artist in the world at that time. However, the popularity that soared to the skies did not bring him the main thing - happiness. On the contrary, he felt that the hype around him and the status of a superstar were driving him crazy, alienating him from friends, making him lonely and unhappy. “I was smart enough to realize that I chose the wrong path. If I wanted to find happiness, I definitely shouldn't have tried to follow in the footsteps of Madonna or Michael Jackson, which at that moment I definitely did, ”he recalls in the same A Different Story. - Oh my God, I thought then - I'm a megastar, and also, probably, a fag - and what should I do about it? It won't end well."

In the end, George figured out what to do with it. He decided, in his own words, to "take the back seat in the car": stop promoting his music with promotional tours and videos, do away with the image of a sexy unshaven guy in tight jeans. The only video that was shot in support of the single from the album released in 1990 with the telling title Listen Without Prejudice (“Listen without prejudice”) is the video for the song Freedom "90, in which George himself does not appear, but five are pleasing to the eye at once supermodels: Linda Evangelista, Cynthia Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz.

Sony, with which George Michael had signed a contract to record albums, was extremely unhappy with his decision to withdraw from personal participation in the promotion of the new album. A major conflict arose between the musician and the company: he believed that Sony was promoting him poorly and did not support his new creative aspirations; Sony countered that Listen Without Prejudice's poor (compared to Faith) sales were a direct result of his unreasonable behavior. However, in 1991, something happened in George's life happy event that for a while he was not up to the conflict with Sony - the musician for the first time truly fell in love.

It happened at a concert in Rio de Janeiro. In the crowd of fans, right in front of the stage, he spotted a boy who seemed so cute to him that he moved to the other end of the stage - so as not to be distracted during the performance. Literally immediately after meeting, he felt something that he had never felt before: “Here is a person whom I could love, and not use my body for a while.” The name of George's first love was Anselmo Feleppa. He went with the musician to Los Angeles, where George lived at that time - and for the first six months the couple was uncloudedly happy. It was then that George realized an important thing for himself: “It is very difficult to be proud of your sexuality when it does not bring you any joy. Once it's associated with joy and love, it's easy to be proud of who you are."

Unfortunately, George and Anselmo's happiness did not last long. In the fall of 1991, due to increasing health problems, Anselmo was advised to take blood tests - and he flew to Brazil to do this. For several months, George was left in an oppressive state of limbo. In the spring of 1992, he performed at grand concert in memory of Freddie Mercury, who died the day before, he sang the song Somebody to Love with the musicians of Queen. “I sang in memory of Freddie - and at the same time I prayed for Anselmo. No one knew that in my soul at that moment I wanted to die. Perhaps that is why this performance turned out to be the best in my life.

But the miracle did not happen - the results of Anselmo's tests for AIDS were positive. He returned to George - and he stayed with him to the end, trying to make the time allotted to him happy. “To leave him – I didn’t even have such a choice. Even if I wanted to, I'm not the kind of person who could then live with it." It was during this period that, in order to take out his grief and anger on someone, the musician began litigation with Sony, trying to free himself from the contract that bound him to the company. The lawsuit dragged on for two years and ended in victory for Sony. However, after the victory in court, the company itself decided to release the musician.

Anselmo Feleppa died in March 1993 - and George completely disappeared from the music scene for almost two years, plunging into grief. He appeared again in public at the end of 1994, at the MTV Music Awards concert, where he performed new song Jesus to a Child, written in memory of a deceased loved one.

Words that you can no longer say
I will sing them for you.
And the love that we could have
stay with me
In every memory
What has become a part of me.
You will always be my love.
I was loved
And I know what love is.
And the lover I kissed
Will always be by my side.

Two years later, the musician's new album, Older, was released. “The optimism that permeates it is because I tried to draw as many positive lessons as possible from the grief I experienced. And in the process of recording the second half of the album, I was again happy man". Happiness this time came to George in the form of Texan Kenny Goss, whom he met at a spa. “I wasn't even sure he was gay when I invited him to dinner,” George recalls. “But on the second day I was already sure, and on the third I realized that my life had again changed decisively.” Kenny appeared in George's life just in time - just before the next blow, which he again had to endure. In 1997, George's beloved mother died of skin cancer. “I remember being on a different planet for several weeks. I was completely unprepared for this, I was just heartbroken. Mom never commanded me and always believed in everything I do. She was very understanding. I still miss her terribly,” George recalled almost ten years after the loss. And again: “People are divided into two categories: those who have already suffered a loss, and those who have not yet. On the day of loss, you become truly adult.

For a year, the musician led the life of a recluse: he did not appear in public, did not give interviews, did not record anything; and when his name hit the papers again in 1998, it wasn't about the release of a new single or album: George Michael was caught in a Beverly Hills bathroom "for committing lewd acts" and was fined and sentenced to eighty hours of community service. Here is how he himself recalls the incident: “I was followed to the toilet, and then this policeman - well, then I, of course, I did not know that he was a policeman - began to play his game, which, I believe, is called: "I I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and that's when I grab you!" "Exiting the closet, being caught in the toilet, is not the most The best way out of the closet. However, George did a good job of it,” says Elton John, a longtime friend of the musician. And indeed, when the initial burning humiliation was left behind, it turned out that this story brought George Michael only good. She did not hurt her alliance with Kenny - they agreed from the very beginning that they would have an open relationship; now he no longer needed to hide and hide before anyone; and besides, based on the toilet scandal, he released the super-successful single Outside, accompanied by a humorous video. The police officer who arrested George tried to sue the musician, stating that he ridiculed and slandered him in an interview, but the court lost.

The next scandal in which the musician was lit up broke out in 2002 - with the release of the new single Shoot the Dog, written as a protest against the war in Iraq, and the accompanying cartoon video, which maliciously ridiculed American President Bush Jr. and British Prime Minister Blair. “Let him do what he does best - perversions in men's toilets,” the newspapers wrote. The clip was banned from showing in the USA, as well as on many English TV channels. George was crushed by the harassment unleashed against him in the press, but this did not stop him from recording a new album in 2004 that returned him to the top of the charts in England and many other countries - Patience.

"If I were hit by a bus now, I would die a happy man - with the amount of quality music that I left to the world," George said in a recent interview. However, this does not mean that he is going to stop. According to him, he spends several hours in the studio almost every day - he writes music, which he does not want to talk about yet. He also regularly gives concerts that take place in huge stadiums, a lot and is actively involved in charity work - and he began to participate in this since the days of Wham !; devotes some time to the Goss-Michael Art Foundation, which he and a partner opened in 2007 in Dallas - the foundation not only hosts contemporary art exhibitions, but also encourages young talented Texas and British artists with scholarships. George Michael practically does not participate in social events and rarely gives interviews. When he nevertheless agrees to meet with journalists, he avoids talking about future musical projects, but openly talks about drugs and sex. He regularly smokes marijuana, claiming that it "helps him stay sane and makes him happy", and periodically goes to the local men's toilets for sexual adventures - fortunately England is not Hollywood, and they prefer not to arrest for it. “I don’t even consider it my weaknesses anymore,” he says. "It's just part of who I am."

53-year-old George Michael's heart stopped while he was peacefully at home in bed. The police who arrived called the cause of death "unclear but not suspicious." So 2016, as if planning to knock off the chessboard of world music as many big figures as possible, took one more victim - I would like to believe, the last one.

wham! "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"

Georgios Kiryakos Panayiotou was born on June 25, 1963 in north London in the family of a Greek restaurateur and an English dancer who came to England from Cyprus. When his family moved to Hertfordshire, Georgios met Andrew Ridgeley at the new school. Together with him, they first formed a pop band with a strong ska influence. After a short time, the composition was reduced to a duet, called Wham! - so George Michael and big show business first met each other.

George Michael "Careless Whisper" - This song appeared on the album Wham! , however in the US it was signed as "Wham! featuring George Michael", and in other countries as his solo recording.

Wham Road! to success was not so long - after the appearance of the song "Young Guns (Go For It)" in the program "Top of the Pops" she hit the English charts. "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" became a worldwide hit. George Michael was the obvious leader of the duo, so the beginning solo career seemed like the next, absolutely obvious step.

George Michael "Faith"

wham! disbanded in 1986 when George Michael released his most successful album, Faith. 25 million copies of this record were subsequently sold worldwide. The combined circulation of George Michael and Wham! exceeds 100 million copies.

George Michael Freedom! "90"

Recordings with Elton John and Aretha Franklin, Grammy awards, huge sales - that's what his life consisted of in the late 80s and early 90s. He played at Wembley Queen at a concert in memory of Freddie Mercury, while under his songs collapsed iron curtain. Residents of the USSR watched the clip “Freedom! 90" with supermodels Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford - and the advantages of the capitalist system and democracy over socialism became clear to them as daylight.

George Michael "Too Funky"

Despite the fact that his songs, as a rule, were about sexuality and passion, and his videos looked very vicious, George Michael had to hide his homosexuality for a long time. In 1998, there was a molestation scandal in a public restroom in Beverly Hills. The Latin American, to whom the singer showed his whistle, turned out to be an undercover police agent.

George Michael not only came out, but also filmed quite a landmark video "Outside" based on this scandal. The policeman tried to sue the singer for 10 million, but the court did not believe that the moral damage inflicted on him was so significant.

George Michael "Outside"

20 years ago, the album "Older" was released, perhaps the last solid and significant recording of George Michael. The record was rated much higher in Europe - but in America, George's star began its decline.

George Michael "Different Corner" is a solo song released in 1986 when Wham! was just about to give a massive farewell concert at Wembley Stadium.

After Older, George Michael repeatedly complained about the creative block and generally reduced his productivity quite a lot. Singles like "Shoot the Dog" against Tony Blair, George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq didn't resonate like they used to. His last studio album came out in 2004.

George Michael "Fastlove"

But the scandals didn't end there. In addition to the incident in the American toilet, there were others. He was arrested several times for drug offenses. He was stripped of his driver's license after his Range Rover rammed a London shop window - Michael was driving while intoxicated. Journalist Simon Hattenston, who interviewed Michael twice,