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George Michael music biography continued...

#1 albums. Michael was born Georgios-Kyriacos Panayiotou in East Finchley, North London on June 25, 1963. His father was Kyriacos Panayiotou, a Greek Cypriot restaurateur who moved to England in the 1950s and changed his name to Jack Panos. His mother, who died in1997 from cancer, was a former dancer. It was clear from an early age that Michael would follow in his mother's creative footsteps. At the age of 17, he formed Wham! with best friend Andrew Ridgeley and the duo met with almost immediate success. With the albums Fantastic, Make It Big and The Final, Wham! became the pop group of the '80s. All three albums went to #1 on the UK charts and enjoyed similar success in America. The singles "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," "I'm Your Man" and "Freedom" were huge hits, boosting the duo's reputation even further.
In 1986, Wham! split up and Michael went on to pursue a solo career. His first album, Faith, was highly anticipated on the basis of the pre-release singles including the title track, "I Want Your Sex" and "Father Figure." The album would go on to sell t sold an incredible 16 million units worldwide and garner Michael the Album of the Year trophy in the 1988 Grammy Awards. The MTV Video Music Awards, among other institutions, further honored him for his breakthrough disc. The follow-up album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, saw a change in style for the singer and contained such hit George Michael songs as "Freedom 90" and "Waiting." Michael would go onto release two more albums in the 90s and retain a high profile with benefit concerts and a much publicized lawsuit with his Sony label. Each album and collection he put out is introspective, creative, catchy, and meaningful to him and his fans (who, in total, have put worldwide George Michael album sales above 67 million). Michael continues to record and perform in the new millennium, satisfying his legions of fans from yesterday and today.