This Is How (We Want You To Get High) and Last Christmas OST

November 6, 2019

 

This Is How (We Want You to Get High), co-written and co-produced by George and collaborator James Jackman was released. Work on This is How (We Want You to Get High) began in early 2012. The track was subsequently developed and recorded in sessions at Air Studios in London, before the finishing touches were added in late 2015 during George’s final recording sessions.

George was the whole package,” said James. “He was a great singer, writer, arranger, producer, he knew how his music should come out and he had the looks. His records will be remembered and covered in 50 years’ time. How many other performers tick all those boxes? I was blessed to be able to work with him.

The song was a fitting finale to Last Christmas, Universal Pictures’ romantic comedy. The film was inspired by the eponymous Wham! hit and had a soundtrack featuring tracks from Wham! and George Michael’s solo career. Director Paul Feig described the movie as ‘a love letter to George’.

Listen Without Prejudice reissue and Freedom: The Film

October 17, 2017

 

In 1990 George’s second solo album Listen Without Prejudice spent a week at the top of the UK chart and a further 18 weeks in the Top 10. Its 2017 reissue contained the remastered original, bonus tracks and was paired with George’s MTV Unplugged session, from 1996. The album went back to No.1 after 27 years.

David Austin, George’s close friend since childhood and long-term collaborator said:

For three years George, myself and his loyal team have worked relentlessly alongside our amazing team at Sony and together we have carefully crafted and put together our beautiful Listen Without Prejudice/MTV Unplugged campaign and film Freedom. It’s no great secret that George was a perfectionist and it shows – he was over everything from its inception to its finish, and it’s a blessing and rare gift to be guided by such genius. That, along with exceptional teamwork and the overwhelming love for George from the public has made everything come together. We are all so incredibly proud to have the Number 1 album in the UK.

Legendary producer Nile Rodgers, who collaborated with George for the remake of Fantasy, said:

I’m eternally grateful to George for choosing me to work on this project. His genius will be missed. And I’m equally grateful to David Austin, for convincing me to finish after George had passed. I was in a funk for months, and one day David said to me rather matter-of-factly, ‘Yog would love it. That’s why he called you in the first place.

George was still putting the finishing touches to Freedom on Christmas Day 2016. The film was an intimate look into the extraordinary life and career of the award-winning singer and songwriter. Narrated by George, it features never-seen personal footage and interviews with music legends.

 

 

 

George Michael, 1963-2016

December 25, 2016

 

In a statement, George’s publicist wrote:

It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period. The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.

George was 53.

On March 7, 2017 a senior coroner in Oxfordshire attributed the death to natural causes.