So young, so foolish.

JK2006 wrote:
So young, so foolish.

This is another massive shock and the first great british pop star of the 80s to pass away.

Aren't we all? Honestly devastating.

JK2006 wrote:
So young, so foolish.
All these stars from the 70s and 80s are dying off, whilst many of the great 50s rock n rollers are still going such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Chubby Checker, and Fats Domino are still going strong.
Everyone on the band aid line-up was still around up until Christmas Eve, now we have lost 2 in 2 days.

True to say that after masterminding every move of the meteoric rise of Wham! as a very young man, George's output began to slow down - but it was always quality over quantity.
Looking back over the past 20 years though and one can't help but wonder if his enforced 'coming out' actually robbed him of his creativity and raison d'etre.

Just heard on bbc breakfast from a guardian journalist, how he had admitted to smoking crack in a recent interview. Such a waste of talent.

went to China with Wham..a bizarre experience.

Lovely guy but the body can only stand so much punishment from drugs before the heart weakens.

I had many encounters with George Michael. A very talented but troubled young man.

I had gone right off the music industry, virtually folded my UK Records label, which had been perhaps the most successful British independent label of the 70s, but my friend Dick Asher persuaded me that I should use my knowledge of music part time as well as doing my new chosen career, TV, writing and so on. In the early 80s I was consultant to CBS Records - essentially to the global boss Dick Asher and his boss Walter Yetnikoff. The man who ran Columbia, one of the labels, was Al Teller. My main function was to convey enthusiasm for great music between countries and even between executives. I travelled a lot, doing TV shows like Top of the Pops and Entertainment USA, so was in a great position to spread the word about talent.

I remember one of my pieces of advice which Dick said accounted for the huge success of CBS that decade was to prioritise a new album by a faded young ex star from years earlier who nobody at the company believed in and all felt was a has been. Michael Jackson. Because of my insistence Dick over ruled all his executives and ordered them to work on the album.

One day in the early 80s, sitting over coffee with Al, he played me a new demo by a band he had just signed on a label deal called The Beastie Boys. That is a smash, I said. It was called Fight For Your Right To Party. We had been discussing Wham, who I was never keen on musically. Al was not a fan either. They would probably never break in America, he said. Tell you what, I replied. Everyone in London says George Michael is really talented. If I get them to break The Beastie Boys in Britain, will you break George in the USA? Deal, said Al. I knew the UK guys would be delighted but also knew that anybody could break Fight For Your Right - and I was proved correct. Al kept his word and made George and Wham a priority and they broke America, slightly later than the UK (1983 or 1984?) but still huge.

I met George a few times around then; he was with a little company called Innervision and released through Epic where my friend Andy Stephens plugged his tracks (and later managed him).

I was also well aware that George, like myself, was a criminal. It was illegal in the 70s and 80s to be homosexual if your chosen partner was under 21. But quite a few music and entertainment people were gay and we all chose to ignore that stupid law. Why should two people who fell in love but were under 21 be sent to prison? Anybody not believing this must watch the film Victim.

I assume that now George is dead the False Allegations Industry will kick in and hundreds will claim he abused them. I doubt it true but that is the way the law is these days.

My most interesting encounter with George was when I was producing The Brits in 1991. George was booked to appear but cancelled at the very last moment, pretending illness, throwing the rehearsals into chaos as his performance had been a key element of the show. I booked, instead, EMF and their current hit Unbelievable (they were great). George suddenly decided he was well enough to come and collect one of his silly awards in person. As we stood side stage (my brother will vouch this - he was with us) I tore George to shreds. I said to him that this kind of behaviour was unforgivable. Fame did it. Thoughtless - for all those workers who had to scrap sets, sound checks and other elements. Thoughtless for fans. Thoughtless for everyone except his selfish self. How he had changed from the nice kid I had met ten years before. Andy (my brother) could not believe how appalling I was to him. He then had to go on stage, smiling, and accept his award. I then wrote him an even stiffer letter and sent it to both his label and management (not just the bosses - everyone) ripping him to pieces for being a selfish diva. He was furious and complained vehemently. I had berated the label and manager for not having sufficient control over their artistes (George had been officially and legally contracted to appear).

We met a few times after that - and got on fine (the incident was never again referred to by either of us). I suspect he knew I had been right. I was never a normal producer - I had provoked ire from Sinead OConnor a year earlier when she had decided not to pick up her award in person and I had played, instead, a long video of one of her rival nominees Whitney Houston.

Like myself, George had later problems with his sexuality, like myself provoked by police incitement and, like myself, is now technically a criminal although media appear to have ignored his convictions. He was also very talented but his demons, especially drugs, destroyed him. But most of all I blame society which loves building people up and then dragging them down. Why is George dead at 53? Because of police and media, I reckon. Join the club.

It would appear that 'Young George' maintained the hard work ethic he was brought up with - hence Wham!, 'Faith' and an incredibly productive and successful 8 yeer spell. 'George the Serious Artiste' seemed to have forgotten that work ethic completely, and eventually lost the ability to make a brilliant album every 6 years.

A self-deprecating and generous man by all accounts, but ultimately one who peaked far too early in life, and traded hard in for indulgence and surrendered his articulacy for cliche.

George at The Brits 1991 just after I spent 5 minutes ripping him to shreds!

And sadly guess who (at my insistence) was given the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award that year (1991)? Status Quo.

Robin Gibb's hair - deary me, what was he thinking...

Of those albums shortlisted, I heard them all at the time - but only 2 have stood the test of time as genuinely 'great albums' - George's winner & the Prefab Sprout magnum opus which always transports me back to being a shy studious 16 year old I was when I first bought it.

The sad thing about George, for me, was how he lost all of the craft for making songs. After being such a fine song writer. Was it drugs? I'd hear singles in later years and it was just mush - no structure, no pace, no focus, no hook, no direction home. It was just some doped up dirge. I couldn't figure out how he'd released it.

What a waste. A nice bloke, most of the time. Such a shame.

Do you not go in for the mullet hair cut and padded shoulders look back in the 80s Kenneth? Many artists and music biz types did back then - the one that really sticks in my mind is Michael Bolton. Of course the Gibb brothers took the 80s look even further by having their teeth capped to perfection.

I fear I was way beyond redemption hair-wise in the 80s - approaching and entering my 40s.

Ken Fry wrote:
Do you not go in for the mullet hair cut and padded shoulders look back in the 80s Kenneth? Many artists and music biz types did back then - the one that really sticks in my mind is Michael Bolton. Of course the Gibb brothers took the 80s look even further by having their teeth capped to perfection.
The mullet was only popular in the uk for about 6 months in 1985. This was during the time of live aid, so its significance has been inflated. I remember people at school getting their hair cut short on top and left long at the back, with the obvious jibes about when are you going go get the rest done. The very fashionable Wedge haircut or Perry haircut as sported by the human league girls, abc, some of duran was much more stylish and fashionable.

Bill wrote:
The sad thing about George, for me, was how he lost all of the craft for making songs. After being such a fine song writer. Was it drugs? I'd hear singles in later years and it was just mush - no structure, no pace, no focus, no hook, no direction home. It was just some doped up dirge. I couldn't figure out how he'd released it.

What a waste. A nice bloke, most of the time. Such a shame.

personally I haven't liked any of this music since last Christmas in 1984. Faith was ok, but a copy of close to me by the cure and the rest is forgettable.