Category Archives: George Michael

Wham!’s Last Christmas finally reaches Christmas No 1, 39 years after release

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‘Mission accomplished!’ says Andrew Ridgeley, while Cher becomes oldest woman to score a UK Top 40 hit

Wham! have finally earned a Christmas No 1 for Last Christmas, 39 years after the song was denied the festive top spot by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?.

With the song’s pain and poignancy still undimmed thanks to the tangibly heartbroken performance of the late George Michael, it was streamed 13.3m times this week, and was helped along by special vinyl and CD editions.

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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts Missy Elliott, Chaka Khan and DJ Kool Herc

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Kate Bush and Soul Train creator Don Cornelius were also inducted, with Missy Elliott closing the ceremony with roof-shaking set

Sheryl Crow and Olivia Rodrigo kicked off the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday night and Missy Elliott closed the show more than four hours later with a roof-shaking set, as the hall celebrated a strong representation of women and Black artists.

Chaka Khan, Kate Bush, Soul Train creator Don Cornelius, the Spinners and DJ Kool Herc were also inducted in a celebration of funk, art-rock, R&B and hip-hop, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

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Ziggy bows out, Madonna scares the pope and Dylan goes electric: 50 gigs that changed music

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Five decades after David Bowie’s seminal tour, our music writers reflect on the concerts that have left a mark, from Billie Holiday to Billie Eilish

Café Society, New York City, early 1939
The 23-year-old Billie Holiday was mostly unknown outside the jazz loop when she began her 1939 residency at this liberal New York club. Her understated, delicately implacable debut of Strange Fruit, a terrifying depiction of lynchings in the south, made a unique new vocal sound famous worldwide. John Fordham

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George Michael’s 30 greatest songs – ranked!

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With Last Christmas sailing up the singles charts again, now’s the time to reappraise Michael’s best tracks, from sublime pop to haunting elegies

Tucked away on the B-side of The Edge of Heaven, Battlestations is a fascinating anomaly in the Wham! catalogue. Raw, minimal, and influenced by contemporary dancefloor trends – but still very much a pop song – it gives a glimpse of what might have happened had the duo stayed together and taken a hipper, more experimental direction.

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Lorde’s comeback single is a lesson in letting pop stars take their time

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Solar Power delivers a statement of loose-limbed maturity from a mercurial star who is much imitated but utterly unique

Lorde has said she was “waiting for the right moment” to release her comeback single, Solar Power, and opted for 11 June to coincide with the year’s only solar eclipse (although leaks may have forced her hand). Her chosen date resonates beyond the obvious thematic associations of her hazy, sun-worshipping comeback single and its cheeky cover art.

Pop stars, especially young women, are expected to be available, relatable, always on. Lorde has defied this with an old-school release rate (just three albums in nine years) and such a low-key public presence that a recent update of her Instagram account on which she reviews onions rings generated headlines. (She benefits, too, from New Zealand’s minimal paparazzi culture.) The rare arrival of new music from the 24-year-old, last heard from in 2017, has come to feel like its own celestial event.

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George Michael’s sister found dead on Christmas Day

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Death of Melanie Panayiotou not being treated as suspicious, say police

George Michael’s sister Melanie Panayiotou was found dead at her home on Christmas Day, police have said, three years to the day since the singer’s death. The 55-year-old hairdresser was found by her older sister, Yioda, on the evening of 25 December.

The Metropolitan police said they were called by the London ambulance service shortly after 7.30pm on Wednesday to reports of the sudden death of a woman. Her death is not being treated as suspicious.

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