George Michael : A Life by James Gavin

?_oGavin?_Ts engrossing biography of the singer takes the measure of a gifted, tragic, and infuriating man.?__ ?_"New York Times Book ReviewGeorge Michael was an extravagantly gifted, openhearted soul singer whose work was both pained and smolderingly erotic. He was a songwriter of true craft and substance, and his music swept the world, starting in the mid-1980s. His fabricated image?_"that of a hypermacho sex god?_"loomed large in the pop culture of his day. It also hid?_"for a time?_"the secret he fought against revealing: Michael was gay. Soon his obsession with fame would start to backfire. As one of the industry?_Ts most privileged yet tortured men began to self-destruct, the press showed little sympathy. George Michael: A Life explores the compelling story of a superstar whose struggles, as well as his songs, continue to touch fans all over the world. Acclaimed music biographer James Gavin traces Michael?_Ts metamorphosis from the shy and awkward Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou into the swaggering, dominant half of the leading British pop duo of the 1980s Wham!; he then details Michael?_Ts sensational solo career and its subsequent unraveling. With deep analysis of the creative process behind Michael?_Ts albums, tours, and music videos, as well as interviews with hundreds of his friends and colleagues, George Michael: A Life is a probing, definitive portrait of a pop legend.
Binding: Paperback / softback