Tag: George Michael

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Yours Only George

Yours Only George Celebrates 27 Anniversary – Part 2

Yours Only George

When I first started coming up with my Top 5 favorite things that have happened over the last 27 years at the Yours Only George site, I kept coming up with some truly sad things that have happened. I decided to have a happy list of George Michael things that have happened and a list of sad things that have happened.

I am posting my Top 5 Saddest George Michael things about the site from the last 27 years:

5

When Princess Diana died, we decided to start a Princess Diana tribute page, which ended up being far larger than ever anticipated with contributions from the Yours Only George site, Yogmael, and Gnotes. As I wrote at the time: “And so, in my grief, my best friend and I decided to create a small tribute page for you, which turned out to be much larger than I ever expected it to be. In a world that is often cynical and cruel, it is so beautiful and fitting that people united to make this page for a woman who had so much love in her heart. You taught us how to love, and I can only hope that we will share your gift with one another. Thank you for giving us the greatest gift of all.” (This is one of the many pages that needs to be updated with new graphics.)

4

I remember searching for George Michael news one night in 1997. If I looked late at night, I would get all the tabloid news that was published in the U.K. while most people were asleep. I remember not wanting this information to be true: George’s beloved mother, Lesley Angold Harrison Panayiotou, died on February 26, 1997, of cancer. I created a small page with quotes of all the lovely things George Michael said about his mother over the years. There is also a second tribute page to Lesley Panayiotou written from a fan’s perspective.

3

George Michael was known for various accidents involving cars. The accident on the M1 was another scary moment in the life of George Michael. It was such a crazy moment where we once again didn’t know if George was going to make it.

2

When George Michael had pneumonia, I remember not much was being said. The only information that was coming was through the tabloids, and it sounded bad.

When George first spoke to the press after nearly dying in the hospital, it was heartbreaking. Whenever I see this clip, I start crying.

1

I still have not totally dealt with the death of George Michael. I like to think there is an alternate universe where he is still alive, happy, and making music. I will never forget the moment that Shannon, cofounder of this site, called me on Christmas day and told me that George Michael had died. I had previously been worried about him because his voice did not sound strong during the Red Line interview. George Michael had cheated death so many times before that it was shocking that he would die on Christmas day.

Thanks to all the Lovelies for all the support through the years, in the good times and the bad!

Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.

About Melanie

Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.

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Pepsi & Shirlie Yours Only George

Yours Only George Celebrates 27th Anniversary

On June 1, 2024, Yours Only George is celebrating its 27th anniversary. Shannon and I started this site in 1997 back when AOL gave free space for web sites. We later moved it to a webhost and bought the domain www.yogworld.com.

We had our first fan club in 1986 and came up with the name “Yours Only George” in the early 1990s. The name not only represented fans dedicated to George Michael, but also spelled out “YOG,” George Michael’s nickname. The name “Yog” was originally given to George Michael by Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley.

I am forever thankful to Shannon for her friendship and support. There is no better friend in this world than Shannon. This site would not be here without her.

Over the past five months, I have been going page by page to update the site. Considering that it is two sites in one and it has about 500 pages, there is a lot to work on!

I am posting my Top 5 Favorite things about the site from the last 27 years:

5

The George Michael Links section is really the beginning of the entire Yours Only George web site. Back in the mid 1990s, I had gone to a seminar, and the gist was that links were a key to success. It was only later that we became known for the George Michael news. At one point, I think there were at least 400 links. I recently deleted any that were no longer available.

4

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I remember being shocked when I saw the Yours Only George website listed as a source for a few George Michael biographies. The first one is George Michael: The Biography (Amazon Ad) by Rob Jovanovic. The second one is George Michael: A Life (Amazon Ad) by James Gavin. I was also recently approached to write a George Michael book. Maybe some day I will!

3

When George Michael died, one tabloid picked up on the fact that Andrew Ridgeley called George Michael “Yog” in his Twitter post about George Michael dying. The writer wrongly said Andrew’s nickname of Yog stood for “Yours Only George.” The nickname “Yog” derives from the Greek pronunciation of George’s given name: Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. The “G” on “Georgios” is pronounced with a “y” sound like “yogurt.” Unfortunately, this inaccurate information has propagated to other sites.

2

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It was an absolute thrill when we interviewed Shirlie Kemp. I wish I had dated the article. I think it was in February 1998. We interviewed Shirlie when she was running the George Michael fan club during the Aegean record label era. Some day I hope to interview Shirlie again.

1

My absolute favorite memory was finding out that George Michael not only knew about the Yours Only George web site, but George Michael also had the Yours Only George web site bookmarked on his computer! This was in 2004. Jill Taylor, a DJ, did an Internet search before her interview with George Michael, and she found the Yours Only George web site. She mentioned the site during the interview. George was very nice, said he knew about the site, and even had it bookmarked on his computer.

I never had the chance to meet George Michael, but knowing George visited the site is the next best thing.

I will be posting a second article with the Top 5 saddest things that have happened over the last 27 years on the Yours Only George site.

Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.

About Melanie

Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.

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Awards

“Careless Whisper” Reaches 1 Billion Streams on Spotify

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George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” has reached 1 billion streams on Spotify and 1.2 billion streams on YouTube.

“Careless Whisper” joins Spotify’s Billion’s Club. There are more than 600 songs on Spotify’s Billion’s Club.

According to Wikipedia:

Currently, 631 songs have surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, 79 have surpassed two billion, and nine have surpassed three billion. “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd is the only song that has surpassed the four billion mark.

List of Spotify streaming records

Earlier in the year, “Careless Whisper” reached 1 billion YouTube views. According to Variety, the “Careless Whisper” music video is the eighth from the 1980s to reach the 1 billion milestone on YouTube.

Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.

About Melanie

Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.

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Media Personal

George Michael: Portrait of an Artist at Cannes

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Simon Napier-Bell’s George Michael documentary, “George Michael: Portrait of an Artist,” (Amazon Ad) will be on Kaleidoscope Film Distribution’s Cannes slate, according to Variety.

The documentary was directed by Simon Napier-Bell, the manager of Wham! in the mid 1980s who masterminded the historic Wham! trip to China. “George Michael: Portrait of an Artist” includes interviews with Stevie Wonder, Sanandra Maitreya, Stephen Fry, Kenny Goss, Chris Cameron, Rufus Wainwright, Piers Morgan, and Jo Whiley.

The 2023 documentary is described as:

Packed with rare archive footage and candid interviews from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Stephen Fry, and many more of his close friends and colleagues, witness George Michael’s meteoric rise to superstardom like never before. This fascinating documentary exposes, honestly and respectfully, the man who he was, with unprecedent insights into both his professional persona as a world-renowned celebrity, and his tumultuous personal life that nearly brought his career to an early end.

Kaleidoscope Film Distribution

More information is available at the official site for George Michael: Portrait of an Artist.

Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.

About Melanie

Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.

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Awards

George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” Tops Smooth’s All Time Top 500 for 7th Year

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George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” is #1 on 2024’s All Time Top 500 for Smooth Radio. It is the sixth year in a row that “Careless Whisper” has topped the chart, and the seventh year at #1.

George Michael Entertainment released the following statement about this achievement:

On behalf of George Michael Entertainment, we are delighted that Smooth Radio listeners and George’s loyal fans have once again, for the 6th consecutive year, voted for George Michael’s Careless Whisper as their number one song in Smooth’s “All Time Top 500” for 2024.

In this year, the 40th anniversary of its release, this is an incredible achievement as Careless Whisper has now topped Smooth’s chart for a total of 7 years.

We know that George would be proud and truly grateful just as we are, for the continued support of Smooth Radio, its listeners and his loyal fans around the world.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

George Michael Entertainment

George Michael’s “A Different Corner” ranked at #3 for another year.

George Michael had a total of 20 songs in Smooth’s Top 500. Here is the ranking:

#1 “Careless Whisper”
#3 “A Different Corner”
#11 “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (duet with Elton John)
#31 “Jesus to a Child”
#48 “Father Figure”
#80 “Somebody to Love” (with Queen)
#104 “FastLove”
#105 “Club Tropicana”
#109 “One More Try”
#114 “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” (duet with Aretha Franklin)
#116 “Faith”
#138 “Praying for Time”
#140 “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”
#163 “I’m Your Man”
#169 “Freedom 90”
#178 “Everything She Wants”
#284 “The Edge of Heaven”
#313 “As” (duet with Mary J. Blige)
#320 “Freedom”
#453 “Heal the Pain”

Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.

About Melanie

Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.