George Michael first success after forming the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. The band's first album Fantastic reached no. 1 in the UK and produced a series of top 10 singles including "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", "Young Guns (Go For It!)", and "Club Tropicana". Their second album, Make It Big, was the breakthrough that made the duo international superstars, reaching No. 1 on the charts in the US Singles from that album included "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Freedom", "Everything She Wants", and "Careless Whisper", the latter of which was Michael's first solo effort as a single.
Wham!'s tour of China in April 1985, the first visit to China by a Western popular music act, generated enormous worldwide media coverage, much of it centred on George Michael. The tour was documented by celebrated film director Lindsay Anderson and producer Martin Lewis in their film Foreign Skies: Wham! In China and contributed to Michael's ever-increasing fame. With the success of Michael's solo singles, "Careless Whisper" (1984) and "A Different Corner" (1986), rumours of an impending break up of Wham! intensified. The duo separated during the summer of 1986, after releasing a farewell single, "The Edge of Heaven" and a singles compilation.
The beginning of his solo career, in early 1987, was a duet with soul music icon Aretha Franklin. "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" was a one-off project that helped Michael achieve an ambition by singing with one of his favourite artists, and it scored number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release.
During the autumn of 1987, Michael released his first solo album, Faith. In addition to playing a large number of instruments on the album, he wrote and produced every track on the recording, except for one. The first single released from the album was "I Want Your Sex," during the summer of 1987. The song was banned by many radio stations in the UK and US, due to its sexually suggestive lyrics. MTV would broadcast the video, featuring celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung in a basque and suspenders, only during the late night hours. Michael argued that the act was beautiful if the sex was monogamous. Michael even recorded a brief prologue for the video in which he said: "This song is not about casual sex." One of the racier scenes involved George Michael writing the words "explore monogamy" on his partner's back in lipstick. Some radio stations played a toned-down version of the song, "I Want Your Love," which was mainly the word "love" replacing "sex." When the tune reached the US charts, American Top 40 host Casey Kasem refused to say the song's title, referring to it only as "the new single by George Michael." In the US, the song was also sometimes listed as "I Want Your Sex (from Beverly Hills Cop II')," since the song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie. Despite censorship and radio play problems, "I Want Your Sex" reached No.2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and at No.3 in Britain.
George Michael second single, "Faith", was released during October 1987. Faith would become one of his most popular songs. The song hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and maintained that position for four weeks. Faith also reached no.2 in the UK singles chart. The famous video provided some images of the 1980s music industry in the process - Michael in shades, leather jacket, cowboy boots, and Levi's jeans, playing a guitar near jukebox. Faith was released in the UK and in several markets worldwide on 30 October. In the United States, the album had 51 non-consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard 200, including 12 weeks at no.1. "Faith" had many successes, four of which ("Faith", "One More Try", "Father Figure" and "Monkey") reached no. 1. Eventually, "Faith" received Diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of 10 million copies in the US. To date, global sales of Faith are more than 25 million units.
George Michael embarked on a world tour in 1988. The nightly set list included from the Wham! Era "Everything She Wants" and "I'm Your Man", as well as covers of "Lady Marmalade" or "Play That Funky Music". In Los Angeles, California, Michael was joined on stage by Aretha Franklin for "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)". It was the second highest grossing event of 1988, earning $17.7 million. According to Michael in his film, A Different Story, success did not make him happy and he started to think there was something wrong in being an idol for millions of teenage girls. The whole Faith process (promotion, videos, tour, awards) left him exhausted, lonely and frustrated, and far from his friends and family. In 1990, he told his record company Sony that, for his second album, he did not want to do promotions like the one for Faith.
George Michael is on road for Orchestral Tour 2011 and will perform on 16 - 17 December 2011 at Earls Court, London. George Michael Fans get ready for this concert and grab your George Michael Tickets from Ticket Royale at low cost.
George Michael Tickets - Earls Court, London - £225
Tel: +44 (0) 207 148 7459
info@ticketroyale.com
Ticket Royale
Wham!'s tour of China in April 1985, the first visit to China by a Western popular music act, generated enormous worldwide media coverage, much of it centred on George Michael. The tour was documented by celebrated film director Lindsay Anderson and producer Martin Lewis in their film Foreign Skies: Wham! In China and contributed to Michael's ever-increasing fame. With the success of Michael's solo singles, "Careless Whisper" (1984) and "A Different Corner" (1986), rumours of an impending break up of Wham! intensified. The duo separated during the summer of 1986, after releasing a farewell single, "The Edge of Heaven" and a singles compilation.
During the autumn of 1987, Michael released his first solo album, Faith. In addition to playing a large number of instruments on the album, he wrote and produced every track on the recording, except for one. The first single released from the album was "I Want Your Sex," during the summer of 1987. The song was banned by many radio stations in the UK and US, due to its sexually suggestive lyrics. MTV would broadcast the video, featuring celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung in a basque and suspenders, only during the late night hours. Michael argued that the act was beautiful if the sex was monogamous. Michael even recorded a brief prologue for the video in which he said: "This song is not about casual sex." One of the racier scenes involved George Michael writing the words "explore monogamy" on his partner's back in lipstick. Some radio stations played a toned-down version of the song, "I Want Your Love," which was mainly the word "love" replacing "sex." When the tune reached the US charts, American Top 40 host Casey Kasem refused to say the song's title, referring to it only as "the new single by George Michael." In the US, the song was also sometimes listed as "I Want Your Sex (from Beverly Hills Cop II')," since the song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie. Despite censorship and radio play problems, "I Want Your Sex" reached No.2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and at No.3 in Britain.
George Michael embarked on a world tour in 1988. The nightly set list included from the Wham! Era "Everything She Wants" and "I'm Your Man", as well as covers of "Lady Marmalade" or "Play That Funky Music". In Los Angeles, California, Michael was joined on stage by Aretha Franklin for "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)". It was the second highest grossing event of 1988, earning $17.7 million. According to Michael in his film, A Different Story, success did not make him happy and he started to think there was something wrong in being an idol for millions of teenage girls. The whole Faith process (promotion, videos, tour, awards) left him exhausted, lonely and frustrated, and far from his friends and family. In 1990, he told his record company Sony that, for his second album, he did not want to do promotions like the one for Faith.
George Michael is on road for Orchestral Tour 2011 and will perform on 16 - 17 December 2011 at Earls Court, London. George Michael Fans get ready for this concert and grab your George Michael Tickets from Ticket Royale at low cost.
George Michael Tickets - Earls Court, London - £225
Tel: +44 (0) 207 148 7459
info@ticketroyale.com
Ticket Royale
