How Did George Michael Die? The “Last Christmas” Singer Passed On The Holiday
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A songwriting legend. He penned so many of the greatest radio hits like “Careless Whisper,” “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” and “Freedom! ’90.” George Michael’s legacy is incomparable. With the new Wham! documentary debuting on Netflix, many people are asking: How did George Michael die?
Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, George Michael rose to stardom as one-half of the British pop duo Wham! with childhood friend Andrew Ridgeley. The group exploded in popularity with their first album Fantastic which reached No. 1 on the UK charts with singles like “Wham! Rap” and “Club Tropicana.” Their second album Make It Big reached new heights with songs like “Everything She Wants” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”
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“We met when I was 11 and Andrew was 12,” a young Michael says in archival footage in the Wham! trailer. An older Ridgeley adds, “And there was only ever one thing that I wanted to do — be in a band with George.” The “Careless Whisper” singer admitted, “Andrew changed my life in exactly the way someone needed to change my life if I was gonna be a pop star.”
After Wham! split, George Michael still topped the charts with his majorly successful solo career starting with solo album Faith in 1987. He was constantly under the public eye with his legal troubles, philanthrophy, and private life. Michael continued to perform and make music until his death on Christmas Day 2016.
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How did George Michael die? Read more below to find out.
How did George Michael die?
How did George Michael die? George Michael died from natural causes attributed to dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver, according to the Oxfordshire coroner. The post-mortem report read, “As there is a confirmed natural cause of death, being dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver, the investigation is being discontinued and there is no need for an inquest or any further enquiries. No further updates will be provided and the family requests the media and public respect their privacy.”
Michael was found dead in his bed by his partner Fadi Fawaz on Christmas morning, December 25, 2016. “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period,” his rep Michael Lipmann said in a statement to the BBC at the time. “I’m devastated.” The manager received a call on Christmas morning notifying him that Michael had been found “in bed, lying peacefully.”
Medic Simeon Niel-Asher treated George Michael in the weeks leading up to his death. He recounted to The Mirror UK that the “Last Christmas” singer knew about his own deterioating health. “When I last saw him he was in good spirits. It was a beautiful last session. We had a really weird conversation, it was interesting and it was strange. Sometimes people know they are going to die and they get everything in order. I wonder if there was a bit of that going on, like he somehow knew.” He continued, “It was strange to think he might have known he was going to die or had some kind of inkling. That happens. Some people know they are going to die and I’ve seen it before. In many ways I thought he was waking up and I saw him coming alive again, maybe the last flash of the candle.”
Andrew Ridgeley revealed in his book Wham! George Michael and Me how he found out about Michael’s death. He texted his former bandmate to thank him for a present he gave him for Christmas that year. Michael’s sister Melanie called him minutes letter “I honestly thought she was calling to wish me a happy Christmas, or maybe she was with George and the family, and they were ringing to arrange a get-together. There was certainly nothing to hint at the awful news that followed — that George had passed away,” he wrote.
Days before the premiere of the Wham! documentary, People talked to Ridgeley about his last moments with Michael over a game of Scrabble. He said that his best friend “was a big fan [of the board game] and we’d have regular games of Scrabble.”
“He’d beaten me the week before, and I was exacting my revenge,” he continues. “It took us right back to just … the essence of our schoolboy friendship and one-upmanship. It was a game that stimulated him, and me also.”
George Michael’s funeral was held months after his death. It was a private event in Highgate cemetery in north London and was attended by only family and friends, according to his rep. He was buried next to his mother and his sister who died three years after to the day. Fans of the “Fast Love” singer tended a garden outside his former home in tribute.
According to DailyMail, George Michael left over £97 million ($123 million) in his will. His will stated that property and personal belongings would be shared equally between sisters Yioda and Melanie. His father Kyriacos ‘Jack’ Panayiotou was handed the use of Michael’s horse stud farm in Hertfordshire “for so long as he wishes.”
“Despite the pain of his death, George is still very much alive in my memory today,” Ridgeley writes in his memoir. “A few years on from that tragic Christmas, I’ll sometimes catch myself thinking of our friendship and those years together as young kids in Wham! … And more often than not I’ll remember the laughs we enjoyed together when we were on our own in a bar, or backstage, or traveling, chatting over a beer, or messing around just in each other’s company. When it was just the two of us.”
Wham! is available to stream on Netflix.
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