George Michael held for lewd conduct

This has not stopped several page-long stories from appearing in the British press with explicit details about what is alleged to have happened when Michael was arrested. The Sun, taking off on the singer’s best-known hit has a front page story titled “Zip Me Up Before You Go Go” followed by six full pages on the “facts” of the case and the life and times of George Michael. Not to beoutdone, The Mirror devoted five pages to the singer. In its front page story is listed “George’s Shame” in bullet point form, apparently based on evidence from “an officer”.

George Michael, who was born Georgios Panayiotou in North London, hit the headlines as the creative part of the singing duo, Wham — a group formed with his childhood friend Andrew Ridgeley. Wham became the most successful teen group of the 1980s and sold almost 40 million albums.

Michael and Ridgeley were promoted as macho teen heartthrobs and Michael’s success with women was made much of. Their hits included `Careless Whisper’, `Pick me up before you go go’ and `I Want Your Sex’ which was banned from many radio stations.

The two parted amicably in 1986 when Michael began a solo career and transformed himself from a headline hogging pin-up to a reclusive man of uncertain sexuality. It was only recently that Michael, whose private life was off limits to the press, discussed his devastation at the death ofhis close friend Anselmo Feleppa, a 32-year-old Brazilian who died of an AIDS-related illness.

His first solo album, Faith, released in 1987, was a success with both critics and music fans, selling in excess of 10 million copies. Michael spent a large part of the mid-90s in a legal fight with his record company Sony, which prevented him from recording any fresh material. The legal battle finally ended when Virgin and Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks paid Sony $24.6 million to release him from a multi-album deal. He returned to music with the album, Older, which made music history in this country giving Michael six top three hits.

George Michael has won two Grammy awards for duets sung with Aretha Franklin and Elton John. Like Elton John who is a friend of his, Michael was a friend of Princess Diana and counted her among his fans. He has, over the last many years, been an AIDS campaigner, raising money for AIDS charities. Michael is not the first famous Britisher to have been caught by the LA policecommitting what they describe as a “lewd act”. Three Weddings And A Funeral star Hugh Grant was arrested in the Beverley Hills area in 1995 on charges of committing a lewd act with a prostitute in a car.