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| Interviews With Mourners Reveal George Michael’s Struggles With Fame | Interviews With Mourners Reveal George Michael’s Struggles With Fame |
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| LONDON — Adam Gearon met George Michael when they were children living in the same village in Hertfordshire, England. “His music was therapeutic,” Mr. Gearon recalled on Monday, standing outside Mr. Michael’s home in the Highgate section of North London. “His words helped me through my personal struggles, and I associated songs with different times of my life.” | LONDON — Adam Gearon met George Michael when they were children living in the same village in Hertfordshire, England. “His music was therapeutic,” Mr. Gearon recalled on Monday, standing outside Mr. Michael’s home in the Highgate section of North London. “His words helped me through my personal struggles, and I associated songs with different times of my life.” |
| About 50 miles to the west, in the village of Goring-on-Thames, where Mr. Michael was found dead at his country home on Sunday, David Beddall, the churchwarden at St. Thomas of Canterbury Church, had wondered why Mr. Michael had not attended the midnight Christmas service, as he did last year. “We thought he wasn’t at home,” Mr. Beddall said. “He had his garden decorated with lights and you could see them from the bridge. It’s quite an impressive sight.” | About 50 miles to the west, in the village of Goring-on-Thames, where Mr. Michael was found dead at his country home on Sunday, David Beddall, the churchwarden at St. Thomas of Canterbury Church, had wondered why Mr. Michael had not attended the midnight Christmas service, as he did last year. “We thought he wasn’t at home,” Mr. Beddall said. “He had his garden decorated with lights and you could see them from the bridge. It’s quite an impressive sight.” |
| The death of Mr. Michael — famous for hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Faith” and “Careless Whisper” — at age 53 stunned celebrities and fans, but also the many people who knew him in England, where he spent most of his life. | The death of Mr. Michael — famous for hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Faith” and “Careless Whisper” — at age 53 stunned celebrities and fans, but also the many people who knew him in England, where he spent most of his life. |
| Amanda Holland, 56, a neighbor of Mr. Michael in Goring-on-Thames, in Oxfordshire, and an amateur actor, once invited him to a play in which she was performing. “He’s an international superstar — I thought, there’s no way he would come to a local thing,” she recalled. “But he did, and he was fabulous, and he was kind and he was generous.” | Amanda Holland, 56, a neighbor of Mr. Michael in Goring-on-Thames, in Oxfordshire, and an amateur actor, once invited him to a play in which she was performing. “He’s an international superstar — I thought, there’s no way he would come to a local thing,” she recalled. “But he did, and he was fabulous, and he was kind and he was generous.” |
| Tom Fleming, 48, who had met Mr. Michael several times, knelt to lay a bouquet in front of the gate of the singer’s London home on Monday morning, weeping quietly. “He was always a happy, positive, loving person that shone through all the time,” Mr. Fleming said. | Tom Fleming, 48, who had met Mr. Michael several times, knelt to lay a bouquet in front of the gate of the singer’s London home on Monday morning, weeping quietly. “He was always a happy, positive, loving person that shone through all the time,” Mr. Fleming said. |
| Mitsuya Fujimoto, a neighbor and music producer who shared a parking space with Mr. Michael in London in the 1990s, said they had become friends after someone broke into Mr. Fujimoto’s Land Rover, apparently thinking it was Mr. Michael’s. | Mitsuya Fujimoto, a neighbor and music producer who shared a parking space with Mr. Michael in London in the 1990s, said they had become friends after someone broke into Mr. Fujimoto’s Land Rover, apparently thinking it was Mr. Michael’s. |
| “He was very, very quiet,” said Mr. Fujimoto, 56, a former producer for the Japanese band Chage and Aska. “He was always very, very reserved,” he added. “He didn’t like the attention. He was very humble.” | “He was very, very quiet,” said Mr. Fujimoto, 56, a former producer for the Japanese band Chage and Aska. “He was always very, very reserved,” he added. “He didn’t like the attention. He was very humble.” |
| Mr. Michael came out as gay in 1998, after the end of a protracted legal battle with Sony Music, and shortly after he had been arrested on charges of lewd conduct in a men’s room in Beverly Hills, Calif. He had long been a supporter of AIDS prevention and gay rights. | Mr. Michael came out as gay in 1998, after the end of a protracted legal battle with Sony Music, and shortly after he had been arrested on charges of lewd conduct in a men’s room in Beverly Hills, Calif. He had long been a supporter of AIDS prevention and gay rights. |
| “He should’ve come out much sooner than later, because I think that made him stressed,” Mr. Fujimoto said. | “He should’ve come out much sooner than later, because I think that made him stressed,” Mr. Fujimoto said. |
| Mr. Fujimoto recalled once sharing a flight with Mr. Michael after a music event in Nice, France. The flight attendants were “freaking out” over him, he said. “But he’d tell them, ‘Please calm down.’ He never wanted that kind of attention.” | Mr. Fujimoto recalled once sharing a flight with Mr. Michael after a music event in Nice, France. The flight attendants were “freaking out” over him, he said. “But he’d tell them, ‘Please calm down.’ He never wanted that kind of attention.” |
| Mr. Michael, whose legal name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was born in 1963, the youngest of three children of Kyriacos Panayiotou, a Greek Cypriot immigrant who later shortened his name to Jack Panos and opened a restaurant, and the former Lesley Angold Harrison. He formed Wham! with a schoolmate, Andrew Ridgeley, who wrote on Twitter on Sunday that he was “cleft with grief.” He was famous by age 20. | Mr. Michael, whose legal name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was born in 1963, the youngest of three children of Kyriacos Panayiotou, a Greek Cypriot immigrant who later shortened his name to Jack Panos and opened a restaurant, and the former Lesley Angold Harrison. He formed Wham! with a schoolmate, Andrew Ridgeley, who wrote on Twitter on Sunday that he was “cleft with grief.” He was famous by age 20. |
| “I’m not stupid enough to think that I can deal with another 10 or 15 years of major exposure,” Mr. Michael told The Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview. “I think that is the ultimate tragedy of fame. … People who are simply out of control, who are lost. I’ve seen so many of them, and I don’t want to be another cliché.” | “I’m not stupid enough to think that I can deal with another 10 or 15 years of major exposure,” Mr. Michael told The Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview. “I think that is the ultimate tragedy of fame. … People who are simply out of control, who are lost. I’ve seen so many of them, and I don’t want to be another cliché.” |
| (The interview prompted a retort from Frank Sinatra, who wrote to him in an open letter: “Come on, George, loosen up. Swing, man. Dust off those gossamer wings and fly yourself to the moon of your choice and be grateful to carry the baggage we’ve all had to carry since those lean nights of sleeping on buses and helping the driver unload the instruments.”) | (The interview prompted a retort from Frank Sinatra, who wrote to him in an open letter: “Come on, George, loosen up. Swing, man. Dust off those gossamer wings and fly yourself to the moon of your choice and be grateful to carry the baggage we’ve all had to carry since those lean nights of sleeping on buses and helping the driver unload the instruments.”) |
| Mr. Michael’s music career had slowed in recent years, a period that included several painful episodes in his life. | Mr. Michael’s music career had slowed in recent years, a period that included several painful episodes in his life. |
| In a 2004 interview with the British edition of GQ, Mr. Michael spoke candidly about losing his partner, Anselmo Feleppa, a Brazilian, to AIDS in 1993. At the time, Mr. Michael was still in the closet, and the antiretroviral drugs that helped AIDS become a manageable disease, and not necessarily a fatal one, had yet to become widely available. | In a 2004 interview with the British edition of GQ, Mr. Michael spoke candidly about losing his partner, Anselmo Feleppa, a Brazilian, to AIDS in 1993. At the time, Mr. Michael was still in the closet, and the antiretroviral drugs that helped AIDS become a manageable disease, and not necessarily a fatal one, had yet to become widely available. |
| “I’m still convinced that had he been in the U.S.A. or London, he would have survived, because just six months later everyone was on combination therapy,” Mr. Michael said in the interview. “I think he went to Brazil because he feared what my fame would do to him and his family if he got treatment elsewhere. I was devastated by that. The idea that he had the opportunity to go somewhere better but wouldn’t take it because of my fame makes me feel very guilty.” | “I’m still convinced that had he been in the U.S.A. or London, he would have survived, because just six months later everyone was on combination therapy,” Mr. Michael said in the interview. “I think he went to Brazil because he feared what my fame would do to him and his family if he got treatment elsewhere. I was devastated by that. The idea that he had the opportunity to go somewhere better but wouldn’t take it because of my fame makes me feel very guilty.” |
| Later, Mr. Michael developed a relationship with Kenny Goss, an American businessman, whom he met at a Los Angeles spa in 1996. When he came out to his mother and disclosed the relationship, she was supportive, but she also told him that she had terminal cancer; she died in 1997. Mr. Michael and Mr. Goss subsequently opened an art gallery in Dallas; they split up in 2009 but remained friends. (Mr. Goss did not respond to an email requesting comment.) | Later, Mr. Michael developed a relationship with Kenny Goss, an American businessman, whom he met at a Los Angeles spa in 1996. When he came out to his mother and disclosed the relationship, she was supportive, but she also told him that she had terminal cancer; she died in 1997. Mr. Michael and Mr. Goss subsequently opened an art gallery in Dallas; they split up in 2009 but remained friends. (Mr. Goss did not respond to an email requesting comment.) |
| Mr. Michael had several brushes with the law, and several health scares. In 2007, he was sentenced to community service and barred from driving for two years after he had been found asleep at the wheel and under the influence of marijuana. In 2010, his driver’s license was revoked for five years after he drove a Land Rover into the side of a photo shop, denting the wall; he spent four weeks in jail. In 2011, he nearly died from a bout of pneumonia. Doctors had to perform a tracheotomy. | Mr. Michael had several brushes with the law, and several health scares. In 2007, he was sentenced to community service and barred from driving for two years after he had been found asleep at the wheel and under the influence of marijuana. In 2010, his driver’s license was revoked for five years after he drove a Land Rover into the side of a photo shop, denting the wall; he spent four weeks in jail. In 2011, he nearly died from a bout of pneumonia. Doctors had to perform a tracheotomy. |
| Simon Napier-Bell, who managed Wham! — the duo of Mr. Michael and his musical partner Andrew Ridgeley — in the 1980s, until Mr. Michael left for a solo career, learned of his former client’s death while in Southeast Asia. “Just finishing dinner next to the Sarawak River in Borneo, slightly tipsy and feeling good, and I think I’ll leave it that way,” he wrote in an email on Monday. | |
| Paul Gambaccini, a radio and television presenter who had known Mr. Michael for decades and represented him during a 2011 tour, said he was not surprised by the news, “because he had the close brush with death with the tracheotomy and pneumonia.” | Paul Gambaccini, a radio and television presenter who had known Mr. Michael for decades and represented him during a 2011 tour, said he was not surprised by the news, “because he had the close brush with death with the tracheotomy and pneumonia.” |
| Mr. Gambaccini called Mr. Michael “an incredible talent,” adding, “He was an astonishingly honest writer in that his songs reflected himself utterly.” | Mr. Gambaccini called Mr. Michael “an incredible talent,” adding, “He was an astonishingly honest writer in that his songs reflected himself utterly.” |
| In a 2007 interview with the BBC talk-show host Michael Parkinson, Mr. Michael acknowledged his “self-destructive behavior,” which he partly attributed to the pain of his mother’s death. While he said that he was “absolutely appreciative of just how privileged I am,” he also spoke of “the kind of pain” that “makes you physically incapable of doing anything about it” and “the effort of putting one foot in front of the other.” | In a 2007 interview with the BBC talk-show host Michael Parkinson, Mr. Michael acknowledged his “self-destructive behavior,” which he partly attributed to the pain of his mother’s death. While he said that he was “absolutely appreciative of just how privileged I am,” he also spoke of “the kind of pain” that “makes you physically incapable of doing anything about it” and “the effort of putting one foot in front of the other.” |
| Geri Halliwell, a singer-songwriter and a former member of the Spice Girls, had known Mr. Michael since they were children in Hertfordshire; they attended the same sixth-form college — a secondary school where students prepare for examinations — although she was a few years behind him. | Geri Halliwell, a singer-songwriter and a former member of the Spice Girls, had known Mr. Michael since they were children in Hertfordshire; they attended the same sixth-form college — a secondary school where students prepare for examinations — although she was a few years behind him. |
| “The music industry has lost a legend and a gentleman,” she said in a statement on Monday. “He was a loyal, true friend, I will miss him so much.” | “The music industry has lost a legend and a gentleman,” she said in a statement on Monday. “He was a loyal, true friend, I will miss him so much.” |
| Another childhood friend, Mr. Gearon, 45, described listening to Mr. Michael’s music as providing a soundtrack for his life. “He was such a big icon in my life,” he said. “His music was poppy in the beginning but it came to have a message.” | Another childhood friend, Mr. Gearon, 45, described listening to Mr. Michael’s music as providing a soundtrack for his life. “He was such a big icon in my life,” he said. “His music was poppy in the beginning but it came to have a message.” |