How much was George Michael worth?
| Net Worth: | $200 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Singer |
| Date of Birth: | June 25, 1963 (aged 53) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Height: | 1.83 m |
About George Michael
George Michael, real name Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who died on December 25, 2016, and his estimated net worth was $200 million. The boy who would grow up to be George Michael was born in London to an English mother and a Greek father.
Early on, he became friends with Andrew Ridgeley, a classmate, with whom Michael established the Executive in 1979, a group that briefly and eventually failed experimented with ska genres. But when Michael and Ridgeley started the pop group Wham! in 1981, things really started to take off for them. The band very immediately became well-known as a showcase for Michael’s unabashedly pop songwriting.
Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou was his name when he was born on June 25, 1963 in London, England.
The Duo Scores with “Pop Confections” – Wham!
The Wham! boys scored massive UK hits with “Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)” and “Young Guns (Go for It).” not long after the group’s founding. However, Michael and Ridgeley didn’t have to wait long to Make It Big in the States, as the duo’s 1984 album with the same bold phrase became a monster hit. These fairly insignificant and embarrassing early efforts rarely made an impression in America. The four tracks from the album debuted a refined pop-soul sound that would catapult Michael to superstardom.
Ridgeley fades into the background as Wham, Bam, Thank You Andrew plays.
Whamleader !’s and major songwriter, Michael, has always been in charge, but the duo’s meteoric rise to fame made his dominance in the group much more clear. Ridgeley’s anonymity and ostensibly unnecessary presence made it difficult not to feel awful for Michael as he wrote and sang lead on Make It Big’s singles. “Everything She Wants,” “Freedom” and “Careless Whisper” three of these successful songs, are unquestionably pop classics.
Michael gets ready to be a solo celebrity
Wham! achieved three No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts with its first five American singles, as well as two respectable No. 3 chart peaks. The duet was in fact no longer by 1986’s fragmented Music from the Edge of Heaven, though. The album has “I’m Your Man,” the group’s final big hit, as well as “Last Christmas,” another timeless yet holiday pop song, but Michael’s departure from Wham! was underwhelming. As a solo performer, he had had plenty of practice; now it was time for opening night.
Michael Clearly Has a Lot of Confidence in His Ability”
Even though he only had one record out as a solo artist in the 1980s, Michael did not waste any time. Faith from 1987 peaked at No. 1 on both the English and American album charts and produced four No. 1 singles. In the end, the album sold over seven million copies, but it also made Michael a major pop artist and sex icon, especially with the help of the legendary song “Faith” and its accompanying music video. The mature, heartfelt pop songs “Father Figure” and “One More Try” were also standouts.
A Spotty Record Follows, News at 11
Following the release of Faith, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 in 1990, Michael would largely keep silent on the musical front. Volume 2 was never released, in part because to the sharp fall in Michael’s sales, but also due to the typical pop star legal dispute with his record label and other difficulties. Most famously, Michael was charged with obscene behavior in a Beverly Hills men’s restroom in 1998. This incident propelled him to come out to the public as a long-suspected gay.
A Graceful Survivor in the New Millennium?
After his initial humiliating run-in with the law, Michael put his life back together both personally and professionally, releasing his first album of brand-new music in eight years in 2004 with the aptly named Patience. There have been a few additional legal hiccups in the years since, mostly involving reckless driving. In terms of music alone, though, Michael has been treated less favorably than he’d like in the nearly 25 years since his breakthrough, but the fact that he was an expert pop song writer during the height of his career in the mid-’80s cannot be disputed.
Death
Michael, 53, passed away in his bed at home in Goring-on-Thames. Michael’s death was diagnosed by a senior coroner as being caused by dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and a fatty liver.
George Michael’s net worth was at least $200 million when he passed away in 2016.
