He was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in Bushley, Hertfordshire, England. Michael's family was not at all musical, but he grew up listening to a diverse collection of music. When he was a child, he was given three 45s as a gift that sparked his love of music. One of them was the Tom Jones song "Delilah " and the other two were Supremes records. He cites both artists as an influence on his sound.
When Michael was in high school, he met Andrew Ridgeley (who would become the other half of Wham!). The two of them realized that they both shared an intense love for pop music. When their friendship first blossomed, Ridgeley was the outgoing, good looking, and confident one while Michael was the shy, unsure, introvert. Ridgeley groomed Michael into a pop star by teaching him how to style his hair, how to dress, and how to be a charismatic performer.
His album Faith (which he produced) won Album Of The Year at the Grammy Awards in 1988. He also won a Grammy in 1987, for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, shared with Aretha Franklin for the song, "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me."
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.