Wham!... George Michael dead at 53
 

Surprised there hasn't been a George Michael thread since he passed away yesterday. RIP.

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Sad news.

People don't usually pass peacefully in their home surrounded by family from heart failure unless there's underlying health condition. Can't help but wonder if AIDS was involved.

He sang remarkably well with a distinctive voice in videos filled with gorgeous supermodels. For these things I will remember him with gratitude as they brought to me a welcome and enjoyable distraction from my college studies. RIP.

Hate to hear of anyone passing prematurely, but why do we worship half celebrities so much? Good people die every day. Many have contributed significantly to society and often die in anonymity. Felt the same when Prince died (at his own hand). God speed Michael, and everyone else who passed recently.

I like the one he sang with Elton John. It's on our Christmas playlist.

He had put on a tremendous amount of weight. Astronomical actually. I believe the heart failure story.

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The nature of "more people knowing a name" means that more people will have something to say about it. That's all.

Some of the very best people will die in anonymity, by definition.

Sad. For sure my favorite track from him. I was gonna post it, but you beat me to it

his brilliant statement against what the industry wanted him to do.

^^^my take as well.

On a different note, one thing that messes with me is that he was so young. I'm 47, so his passing at only 53 resonates.

Nothing to worry about, unless you have been using heroin as much as George Michael did...who was a great singer and will be missed by many.

calm down boyz, 66 here. just chill and enjoy the weirdness

I'd like to personally thank George Michael because the "I Want Your Sex" video came out when I was 15, and - just when I had recovered - the "Freedom '90" video came out when I was 18. It was a big deal for my small-town sensibilities.

I am so out of touch with pop culture. When I heard he had died my reaction was, "Yeah, I kinda remember him." Holy cow! All my news feeds have multiple stories about him. I had no idea he was such a musical genius! This bigger than the Hindenburg! :rolleyes:

When I first saw "dead at 53" I thought "bulldinky." I'm 53 and I was still a teen when they hit MTv here. I had no idea he was teen when he and Ridgely started it the group.

Deadpool must be heartbroken. ;-)

I'm not hip, nor cool....never have been. May he RIP, but he doesn't even register on my radar....never seen any of his vids, nor listened to his songs..."Wham" meant change the dang station back in the day...
now get off my lawn!

well i'll admit to liking careless whisper back in the day. had a good vibe. not sure I ever saw anything more than prolific pop star type of talent, certainly not genius level. I don't know the music biz but I've always assumed when I hear a catchy pop tune it was created in a corporate board room and the 'artist' to release it was picked by suits. was this not the case with him?

There are many times where what you describe is the case; a great example is modern country music. Writers/publishers want a big deal artist to be the vehicle for their song; lesser known artists want a big deal writer to give them a great song, etc. Just like other businesses. Some people write their own, of course.

Anyway, George Michael wrote most of the Wham songs and his solo songs.

Also never a fan but always sad to see anyone die so young... he did have good pipes thou:

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Same here. I had no idea who he was when the news mentioned him. I don't know that I ever knew his music. He for sure in not on my Pandora play list.

RIP to him and condolences to his family and fans.

not a major fan..watched that one video because it had supermodels in it..

RIP..

even less of a blip on my music radar is the other dude from WHAM..what the eff is he doing? driving for uber?

Crazily enough, the other guy drove Formula 3 racing after leaving Wham. When that didn't work out, moved to LA to try acting.

Andrew Ridgely is still club racing. I met him once at a practice day at Willow Springs around 2007. He was in a Ferrari Challenge car then.

well something is working out for him then.

Back in the early 80s, if you wrote and owned your music, one top ten song and Top of the Pops video in the UK and MTV USA made you rich. Plus, they have some nice residual income I'm sure. WHAM had several big hits, and performed to sold out concerts at Whembly and in Europe for several years. Ridgely didn't have the solo career, but my guess is he put away $20MM or $30MM and still lives a pretty nice life with residuals.

Guy was YUGE in the 80s. A real icon. Wasn't a fan, but this was a lot of solid pop music with a face made for MTV. Lots of guys with double earrings after they were hip ...

On a side note. I was thinking ... Phil Collins also was YUGE but he was probably the last ugly mug on videos before you couldn't perform in pop anymore looking like that! :)

It is too bad he was such an unhappy guy. Wondering if he'd been better off in LA than London? Would have been just in the noise there.

G