Have been listening to Wham! and George Michael solo stuff since I found out. As is an incredible song as someone said earlier here. And it brings comfort - THANK GOD we still have STEVIE WONDER and he is not going anywhere, our last surviving super genius.

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Please 2016 -leave Stevie Wonder Alone (And all the years 2017 to 2040 for that matter)

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(For those not in the know, "As" was a Stevie Wonder song originally appearing on Songs in the Key of Life).

alphastreet said:

databank said:

After Prince dying on the same date he'd recording Sometimes It Snows, we have the man who sang "last xmas I gave u my heart" dying from a heart attack on xmas day. How fucking weird!

We were just playing that at work the other day, imagine hearing it in year's time

Adorecream said:

Have been listening to Wham! and George Michael solo stuff since I found out. As is an incredible song as someone said earlier here. And it brings comfort - THANK GOD we still have STEVIE WONDER and he is not going anywhere, our last surviving super genius.

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Please 2016 -leave Stevie Wonder Alone (And all the years 2017 to 2040 for that matter)

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(For those not in the know, "As" was a Stevie Wonder song originally appearing on Songs in the Key of Life).

GM did as? he also did they won't go when i go.

IamBryan said:

died peacefully at age 53?? Don't think so...place your bets.... OD? Heart Attack?? AIDS???

Respectfully - [Snip - luv4u]

PeteSilas said:

GM did "As"? he also did they won't go when i go.

You didn't know that? He did a duet with Mary J. Blige and the video is pretty cool.

So sad.... RIP my dear. We have lost another great artist. He will never b forgotten.

George Michaels had such a Beautiful Voice

What a crazy year.

This news brings me to tears again.

ladygirl99 said:

Really sad news. My favourtie George Michael song, only discovered recently is Cowboys and Angels https://www.youtube.com/w...TCJIrHiue4

[Edited 12/26/16 0:31am]

[Edited 12/26/16 0:32am]

jaypotton said:

TrivialPursuit said:

PeteSilas said:

GM did "As"? he also did they won't go when i go.

You didn't know that? He did a duet with Mary J. Blige and the video is pretty cool.

no i didn't, we had a thread about Prince/George Michael a couple weeks ago and I mentioned that i'd lost interest after Listen Without Prejudice. I wasn't too flattering with everything I said but I didn't know he'd die in two weeks either.

RIP.

There are quite a few GM songs I've ended up listening to on repeat.

jaypotton said:

BEFORE Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke & Nick Jonas The World bowed to British Soul Brother George Michael...On the radio, TV or Concert Hall whenever he opened his mouth to sing you immediately knew who it was....53 is a young age to leave this World but George definitely left a legacy....Freedom Baby!!!!....Rest in Peace George...

Did George, Boy George and Sir Elton John ever record together or share a stage?

dance4me3121 said:

jaypotton said:

Very very sad. Losing Prince clearly devastated many of us here. Losing George is yet another huge loss! So much sadness and impact (along with Bowie) with yet another incredibly talented REAL artist dying. 2016 really has been the year the music died! Few people have ever had the soul GM had in heir voice. Despite Prince being the most important artist in my life I have to concede that it was GM who performed the definitive version of ICMYLM (sorry Bonnie and Prince but he blew you both away). RIP George.

ICMYLM?

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Pokeno4Money said:

UncleJam said:

"Last Christmas" will never sound the same again. RIP...

That song was playing at the exact moment I saw the news.

God must be planning one heck of a New Year's Eve party, with Dick Clark hosting of course.

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This post put the first smile on my face since hearing of this news. George himself had a good sense of humour, and would have appreciated it. Heck, maybe that's exactly what's going on in Heaven right now.

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George Michael was my all-time favourite singer. All-time. Even though I mainly focus on his first three solo albums Faith, LwP1, and Older (and Wham! of course), I was amazed at the dedication he put into his two most recent tours (25 Live and Symphonica); he remained an excellent live performer and made a surprising recovery after his extended struggle against pneumonia in 2011.

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I can't properly express in words how his passing makes me feel, so I'm not going to try. I'm just going to listen to his music instead.

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Great songwriter, soulful singer. Seemed like a decent fella too. RIP George.

What is going on??? Bowie, Prince and now George Michael... wish this year would just leave already.

I remember when i was in my senior year (1998) I would have the 'older' album in my discman all the time. Jesus to a child, fastlove and later outside were songs that came at just the right time for me. I was comming to terms with being different and these songs made me feel good about it. Those were the best years of my life and these songs (and prince, and bowie) were the soundtrack to them.

Thanx for everything u did for the LBGT community George, u will be missed.

~ U smiled at me like Jesus 2 a child ~

Another one of my absolute favourites.

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So hard to listen to, its making me cry

Kev1n thank you, you could not say it any better - George was a true gay icon and he even helped me to come out (Although I did a year earlier in 1997 aged 21). Unlike my first post which was mostly anger at his death and 2016's grim reaper in general - here I will discuss my life with George Michael. First here is another classic by him, again a conscience song with the serious and brooding George Michael, rather than the party model of him.

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My life started with him at 7 when Club Tropicana was a hit and I kind of liked its party feel and the song always made me feel good like a lot of sunny early 80s pop (Culture Club, Michael Jackson, Hayzee Fantasee, all the usual suspects for me). It was a moderate hit, but when "Wake me up before you go go" came out, it was a #1 global hit and made them cross out of UK success to global success as they competed with Culture club for the 1980s British Invasion. After that it was hit after after in 1985 and 1986, everyone loved Careless Whisper and I got the Make it big album in 1985 aged 9, then my brother got the final in 1986. We even liked the filler tracks like "Credit card baby" - come on it had a great melody!

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87 saw Faith come up and again it blew the charts away, all the kids dug him and the hits like on Bad, poured on into 1989, Father Figure, One More Try, Monkey, I want your sex etc. But even then my brother would say "Oh that George Michael is gay,look at his hair, I had no idea what a gay was then - I soon found out by the time Listen without Prejudice dropped in 1990, I had questions about GM and myself. I was 14 and dug the singles - Praying for Time and Freedom90. The latter had a real angry feel and was a contrast next to the party pop of Wham! and the polished sound of Faith. We knew George was having a Barney with Sony and by 1991 I had moved to Color me badd, MJ and even discovered Prince. 1992 had the song Too Funky, which to me was his coming out song (George apparently said he came out on Listen without Prejudice with the song "You have been loved"). All this shouting at models and gay dance beat made me know and then 1993 came and he had the trial with Sony, his hair and outfit were complete Erasure!

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By 1996 I was into Prince and rap, but still made time for Older (The gap between LWP in 1990 and Older in 1996 was interminable). 1996 was a tough year for me, still stuck in the closet but wanting to burst out. 1998 I was and now it seemed so was George. I felt for him, I never approve of cottaging (Cruising the bogs) but I knew he was lonely after Anselmo died. whereas the arrest got all the wrong publicity and caused the gutter media to go wild after all the fuss over Diana's death had died down, GM turned the whole episode into his coming out hit - Outside, which was really funky. Then came the Ladies and Gentlemen, the very best of George Michael, an excellent album I still have today. A good range of hits, duets, new material like Outside and his version of AS featuring Mary J Bilge and a version of a Portuguese fada song called Desafinado. To hammer home the gay factor, it was given to me as an Xmas gift by my first Partner in 1998.

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After that there were a few creative missteps with Songs of the 20th century and the whole Freek! and Shoot the dog thing with its video of Tony Blair as a puppet of Dubya (I like it, but the song was weak - Freek! was quite good. After that we have Patience,(An album I have, but alas I just can't get into. I need to go back to it). Then there was a blur of arrests for drunk and stoned driving, the fat old lorry driver who was caught with GM sucking him off and tabloid crap right up to his death, my newspaper online even had the gall to criticise him for his Xmas single in 2015 stalling at #14 in the UK and called it a flop!

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I ignore that shit, being a big fan of Michael Jackson and Prince, I am kind of wary of the gutter media, English tabloids and TMC type outlets.

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So that is my journey with Georgie - Does anyone care to explain theirs?

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^Adorecream, that's a beautiful write-up. It's awesome to read that George's music could inspire you in so many ways, and help you find your identity.

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I am nowhere near eloquent enough to write anything of the sort, so I'll let the music speak for itself. I am listening to his songs now, and just came across this one. There are a lot of memories attached to it because I was listening to his album tracks a lot when I was dating this girl back in the early 2010s; alas it did not last, but we still have the memories. The curious thing about the song is that the vocals don't come in until about a minute and a half in. Just like 'Blue' (which was conceived as an instrumental and only had vocals added later on), the instrumentation plays an important role in the song.

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Speaking of covers, we can't forego mentioning 'Love Machine' (originally by The Miracles) and 'If You Were There' (by The Isleys), which were recorded in the Wham! days, and which both show that George Michael had great affection for early 70s soul, without seeking to appropriate it or water it down. Even though George was a pop icon throughout the 80s and 90s, he managed to shake off much of the restrictive image and aesthetical trappings that the label tried to slap on him at the time of the first Wham! album, and by Make It Big he and Andrew already had considerable creative control, which only increased as George went on in his career.

dance4me3121 said:

RIP George Michael

Sending you George Michael fans some love

dance4me3121 said: