Two Years Since We Lost George Michael Today

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Today for many is a day of children opening presents, and just being with the family for the height of the holiday season.

However, today is one very sad day. For it was two years ago today that we lost one of the greatest stars in music history - George Michael! Although not neccessarily "rock," he is still worth mentioning in this blog.

George Michael was born on June 25, 1963 in the London district of Finchley. In 1981 he hooked up with Andrew Ridgeley as Wham! Wham released their debut album in 1983 - Fantastic, which topped charts in the UK; however, their second record, Make it Big (1984) was a massive success topping charts in both the US and the UK and being number 1 in 25 countries overall. The record featured hits such as Wake me up Before You Go-Go, Everything She Wants, Freedom, and Careless Whisper - the latter of the two that were released as George Michael's solo singles in the late 1980s. Wham! are also known for their Christmas song Last Christmas, and George Michael hooked up with a group of musicians collectively known as Band Aid with their smash holiday hit Do They Know It's Christmas Time. The song was written in regards to the Ethiopian famine going on and let to the 1985 Live Aid and Farm Aid shows.

Michael kicked off his solo career around 1986. His early hits included such as Faith and his memorable Father Figure (love the production on the latter). Michael took a break between 1991 and 1996 to record his next record Older, my personal favorite influenced by the death of one of his close partners, Anselmo Feleppa, a Brazilian he'd lost to HIV/AIDS.

For many years, George Michael had sold records and sold out shows alike. In 2008 he held an amazing concert in London commemorating 25 years of recording. With his partner, Australian celebrity hair stylist Fadi Fawaz of Lebaneese descent,  he lived in his 18th century home in Goring-on-Thames, in the countryside just outside of London. It was Fadi who found him dead at 53 and a half years old of natural causes (per a medical examiner) on Christmas morning of 2016.

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