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Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (George Michael) achieved fame in the duo Wham! in his native U.K. in 1982. Through 1986, he and his partner, Andrew Ridgeley, scored hit after hit in a variety of styles from rap to up-tempo pop to slow ballads. As songwriter and lead singer, Michael gradually overshadowed the group, and by the time they split, he was ready for a massively successful solo career. This began with the 1987 album Faith, which featured a series of chart-topping hit singles and sold more than seven million copies. That Michael had not achieved a similar critical success was evident from the title of his follow-up album, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, which must be considered a major commercial disappointment even though it sold a million copies, included two Top Ten hits, and hit number two. With Vol. 2 apparently shelved, Michael contributed several songs to the charity album Red Hot + Dance in 1992, and one of them, "Too Funky," reached the Top 20.
After the failure of Listen Without Prejudice, Michael engaged in a bitter legal battle with his record company, accusing them of not properly promoting the album and asking them to release him from his contract; he stated that he would refuse to release any records if he lost the lawsuit. He lost. After losing an appeal, Michael bought his way out of his Columbia contract and signed with the music division of Dreamworks, a fledgling entertainment corporation founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. In 1996, he released Older, its sales clearly hampered by his long hiatus away from performing. In 1998, Michael made tabloid headlines when he was arrested for lewd conduct in a men's public restroom at a park near his Beverly Hills home; following the incident, the singer appeared on CNN and publicly revealed his homosexuality. The covers collection Songs From the Last Century followed in late 1999.In December 2004 Elton John stated in an interview that he believed George Michael should "get out more". As both John and Michael were openly gay and seemingly friends, many were surprised at the public spat. In an open letter response in "Heat" magazine, Michael claimed he and John were not good friends and that John had little knowledge of his personal life other than what he might glean from gossip (or the "gay grapevine", as Michael termed it).
In July 2005 it was reported that the two had ended their nine month feud over a dinner at Michael's North London home (apparently prepared by "celebrity chef" Gordon Ramsay). The two singers further agreed that John will re-release their 1991 duet "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" on an upcoming album.
This was not the first time that George had a negative camaraderie with fellow gay artists. During the early 80s singer Boy George was rather vocal in his dislike of George Michael, some of which is caught on video during the filming of the Band Aid collaboration. While recording harmonies, Boy George questioned the studio engineers whether one of the voices he heard on the vocal track was "Alf" [British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet, who did not participate in the charity single]. When the engineer indentified the voice as that of Michael, Boy George replied, "God, he sounded camp. But then he is." The singer Morrissey (who many suspect to be gay) has also been critical of Michael, stating that he is "not impressed".
Although Michael had tried to escape from his problems and depression by taking Prozac, smoking pot, and buying a Labrador Retriever that died in the Thames, a love-starved Michael appears to have risen from his depression through his relationship with Kenny Goss, his partner for nearly a decade. In late November, 2005 it was reported that Michael would wed Goss early in the following year in the UK (making it, technically, a "civil partnership"). It was announced on 26 February 2006 that George had been arrested for possession of Class C drugs, an incident that he described as "my own stupid fault, as usual." He was cautioned by the Police department and let go.
