40 things you didn't know about George Michael as he gets...OLDER.
Byline: SAMANTHA BOOTHPOP legend George Michael turns 40 today. The controversial star first lit up the charts in the early Eighties when Wham! posters were plastered on bedroom walls all over the world.
But while bandmate Andrew Ridgeley vanished, George has stayed firmly in the limelight.
Here are 40 things about the man himself to celebrate his special day.
George's real name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.
Just like Sir Paul McCartney, he is left-handed.
George has several nicknames. Yog - derived from the Greek pronunciation of Georgios - is the one favoured by his family and friends, while Andrew Ridgley calls him TLTI - The Legend That Is. He is also known as Knobby, the Greek and The Bubble.
His parents bought him a ring with Yog inscribed on it for his 21st birthday. He still wears it sometimes.
When George made the video for Careless Whisper in Miami, the humidity made his hair curl. The embarrassed star made his sister Melanie cut it and re- shot half the video, making it the most expensive haircut in pop history.
George wears sunglasses from Cutler and Gross. They cost pounds 130 a pair.
Pop superstar Elton John is one of George's closest friends. The pair have sung together on several occasions, including backing vocals on Elton's hit Nikita and the duets Wrap Her Up and Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.
George has been featured on a stamp in the Caribbean island of St Vincent.
He once performed at a Linda McCartney concert for animal rights, despite not being a vegetarian - although he doesn't eat red meat.
When Wham! appeared on Top Of The Pops after Wake Me Up went to No.1, George and Andrew wore T-shirts with a number one printed on the front. The next week they were still at the top of the charts, so to celebrate, George's sister sewed lots of tiny sparkling stones on George's shirt.
George is partially colour-blind and wears contact lenses.
He was the first white vocalist to duet with soul queen Aretha Franklin.
His favourite foods are pizza, salads and chocolate.
Despite his pin-up status, he is now openly gay.
George has two dogs, a female yellow Labrador called Hippy who lives in London and a pooch called Huggy who lives in Los Angeles.
George was arrested in Los Angeles for propositioning an undercover LA vice policeman in a public toilet - he now says he doesn't know what he was thinking.
As a young teenager, George's parents made him play the violin.
George had a serious relationship with make-up artist Kathy Yueng which lasted a few years.
She was the girl who featured in the I Want Your Sex video.
The dark girl in the Wake Me Up and Last Christmas videos was George's then-girlfriend Pat Fernandes.
As a young boy, George owned two Supremes records and one by Tom Jones.
The singer has notched up six US No.1 singles and 11 in Britain.
Faith won him a Grammy for best album in 1988. In the same year, he also won Ivor Novello Awards for Songwriter Of The Year and International Hit Of The Year.
He has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide.
As a young busker he used to sing Queen songs.
His dad was a Greek Cypriot called Kyriacos Panayiotou, who liked to be known as Jack Panos. He owned his own restaurant in Edgware. He is now retired and owns a stud farm outside London.
George's mum was a former dancer who brought George and his two sisters up single-handedly while his father worked. She died in 1997. George said he was just like her, but with a beard.
George put his head above the political parapet last year to speak out against the war in Iraq with his single Shoot The Dog and then again earlier this year with The Grave.
He also spoke out on TV's Breakfast With Frost, saying the war could "light the touchpaper" of Islamic fundamentalism.
Dick James Music, who owned the rights to the song Can't Smile Without You by Barry Manilow, claimed Last Christmas was similar, but they never sued.
On the album Faith, the singer uses the word "baby" 35 times, 30 on Older and 13 on Listen Without Prejudice.
In 1991, George fell in love with Brazilian dress designer Anselmo Feleppa, who he met when he performed at Rock in Rio. For five months they were "blissfully happy", but then they found out Anselmo was ill. He died in 1993 of an AIDS-related brain haemorrhage.
Heartbroken George found love again in the summer of 1996 when he met American Kenny Goss, who didn't have a clue who he was. The couple have been together ever since.
Kenny has acted as a fitness instructor to George's on-off pal Geri Halliwell.
George measures up at just under six feet tall.
The girl who gets to slap George's face in the Father Figure video is model Tania Coleridge.
George's first band was called The Executive.
The video forFreedom 90 starred supermodels Linda Evangelista, Tantjana Patiz, Naomi Campbell, Christie Turlington and Cindy Crawford.
George wrote his mega-hit Careless Whisper when he was just 17.
The most George has ever spent on a piece of clothing was pounds 1700 for a pale suede Versace jacket. He ruined it the next day signing autographs at the airport when he leaned on a red ink pad.
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| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
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| Date: | Jun 25, 2003 |
| Words: | 900 |
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