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![Ladies And Gentlemen - The Best Of George Michael [DVD] [1998]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KYW9KQ6WL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
Ladies And Gentlemen - The Best Of George Michael [DVD] [1998] DVD ~ George Michael |
by George Michael
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by Mick Middles
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by Red Star
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Along with Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna, George Michael secured his place as a global rock superstar in the 1980s and needs little introduction. After breaking up teen-band Wham! at the peak of their success, Michael emerged as a mature solo artist aged just 24 with the album Faith and built on his status as a serious singer/songwriter with Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1" in 1990 and Older (1997). Add two decades of tabloid gossip and Michael's life should make for a fascinating biography. Journalists-turned-authors Nicholas and Tim Wapshott duly deliver a detailed portrait of a complex man, who craves fame and fortune but abhors the trappings that accompany them. However, the authors' obvious indifference to the subject give the impression that Older has been written purely for financial reasons and this cannot be hidden by the occasional positive adjective. Yes, this enhances objectivity and biographers should never blindly worship, but a natural love of music and the man himself would surely have enlivened the lacklustre text. Furthermore, the book's unauthorised status means that the material must be approached with caution as events tend to be coloured by way of artistic licence and various sources are listed as "anonymous by request" (strangely the Wapshott brothers show less concern for Michael's privacy).
So why read this instead of George Michael's autobiography Bare? Well, aside from the fact that this book lifts a number of the more interesting quotes from the aforementioned autobiography anyway, Older takes us through the years beyond Bare, namely, 1990-9. These cover the lengthy legal wrangles with his former record company Sony and the "toilet incident" of April 1998, which resulted in Michael's "outing" as a gay man. With hindsight, Bare was hardly brutally honest and provided a not altogether balanced view of his life, a criticism that cannot be levelled at Older. Thankfully, Michael's sexuality and relationship with Anselmo Feleppa are sensitively handled, as are the deaths of both his mother and Felappa. In contrast, Michael's arrest for "lewd conduct in a public place" and feud with Boy George are recounted, as they only can be, with tongue firmly in cheek.
Remarkably, for a biography of an established songwriter there's a distinct lack of musical criticism with little more than a couple of sentences of analysis about each song. Music aside, such an intensely private individual has led to a lack of quality information on the enigma that is George Michael, making Older a recommended choice out of necessity rather than of merit. --Robert Brookes
Product Description
The whole, complicated, troubled and triumphant story of a man who was once a Greek Cypriot fat boy, became an Eighties pin-up as the driving partner of WHAM!, danced with Princess Diana, perfected the art of designer stubble-culture and, incidentally, became a singer along the way. By painfully and expansively insisting upon his rights as a performer and taking Sony to and through the courts to establish this, Michael not only fought for his own artistic freedom but set an important precedent for every other recording artist in the world. His musical renaissance is a personal and cultural landmark. Always personally evasive, he has endured wilfully mischievous speculations about his private life. In this book the Wapshott brothers go far towards clarifying the importance of his relationship with mercurial South American playboy who died, after which Michael publicly supported AIDS charities. Private grief, coupled with professional frustrations has lead to both silences and scores of unanswered questions about this complicated, feisty and much-misunderstood man.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
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58% buy the item featured on this page: Older: Unauthorized Biography of George Michael |
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23% buy George Michael: The Biography £3.82 |
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7% buy You're the Voice - George Michael: Piano/Vocal/Guitar (You're the Voice) BK/CD£15.19 |
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