George Michael

Is of Greek-Cypriot heritage from his father, a restaurant owner, who emigrated to the U.K. from Cyprus, in the 1950s.

Replaced 'Cousin Brucie' Morrow as the early evening disc jockey at WABC Musicradio 77 in New York in 1974.

He enjoyed four British number one singles with Wham: "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" (1984), "Freedom" (1984), "I'm Your Man" (1985) and "The Edge of Heaven" (1986).

His song with Wham!, "Last Christmas", is the best selling British hit never to get to number one, reaching the no. 2 position in December 1984, being re-issued and reaching the no. 6 position the next December and being re-issued again and reaching the no. 45 position in December 1986. It spent a total of 24 weeks on the British chart.

The first three singles of George Michael's solo career all went to the no. 1 position on the UK chart: "Careless Whisper" (1984), "A Different Corner" (1986) and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987). The latter was a duet with Aretha Franklin.

Played a benefit for striking British miners. [September 1984]

He sang on the no. 1 and no. 2 Christmas singles of 1984, Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and Wham!'s "Last Christmas".

He wrote, produced and performed the classic song "Last Christmas" when he was just 21 years old. There have been over 395 cover versions of the song by different artists since it was released in 1984.

Winner (as part of Wham!) of the British Phonographic Industry Award for British Group in 1985.

His last performance with Wham! was at Wembley Stadium in June 1986.

His debut solo album "Faith" has sold more than 20 million copies since its release in 1987.

Winner of the British Phonographic Industry Award for British Male Solo Artist in 1988 following the success of his multi-million selling album "Faith".

He was a big fan of "This Morning" (1988) and, on the final episode of the series, he phoned the presenters, Richard and Judy, to thank them live on air and to wish them the best.

The singer's music video "Freedom" (1989) featured supermodels Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz. Curiously, GM appeared nowhere in the video himself. Directed by David Fincher and photographed by Jeff Cronenweth.

His 1990 solo hit "Freedom 90" from the CD "Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1" was so titled to avoid confusion with his previous Wham! hit "Freedom".

His album "Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1" won the 1991 Brit Award for British Album.

His partner Anselmo Feleppa, whom he met in 1991, died from an AIDS-related brain haemorrhage in 1993.

Collaborated with Queen and Lisa Stansfield on the British chart-topping "Five Live" (EP) of 1993.

Winner of the 1997 Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist following the success of his multi-million selling album "Older".

Was arrested in early 1998 at a public restroom in Beverly Hills for commiting a lewd act in front of an undercover police officer. He has since made a music video mocking the whole incident. The arresting police officer has since filed a civil suit againt George for defamation of character. It was dismissed.

His controversial single "Shoot the Dog" (released 2002) had a video that ridiculed Tony Blair, Cherie Blair and George W. Bush.

He has contributed two songs to the "Warchild Hope" album (released 21 April 2003); one is a cover of Don McLean's "The Grave" and the other is his own classic "Faith" (a duet with Ms Dynamite).

Announced his retirement in February 2004, but began a new European tour in September 2006, his first tour in fifteen years.

A fan of The Beatles, he performed with Paul McCartney at Live 8 (2005) (TV). He also bought John Lennon's Steinway Model Z upright piano for £1.67m in the year 2000, then returned it to Liverpool's Beatles Story museum.

He has sold an estimated 80 million records worldwide, both as a solo performer and as one half of the duet Wham!, as of 2006.

In the Independent on Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came no. 25, down from 22.

He was paid £1.7 million to perform for an hour at Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin's New Year's party on 31 December 2006.

Sentenced to 100 hours community service for driving while unfit. The singer was arrested on 1 October 2006 after being found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes in the early hours of the morning. He had an antidepressant in his system, as well as cannabis and 16 micrograms per millilitre of the illegal Class C drug GHB. (9 June 2007).

In September 2010, while serving a prison sentence for driving under the influence of drugs, George received a two-page handwritten letter from Sir Paul McCartney to lift his spirits. In the letter, McCartney said that he empathised with George as he himself had spent ten days in prison in Japan in 1980 after being caught with cannabis. He told George to keep his chin up and that he would see him when he is released. Apparently, George was delighted with the letter and read it over and over again.