Summary
The video covers an in-depth interview with George Michael, discussing various aspects of his career and personal life. He shares his views on duets, revealing he only enjoys collaborating with artists he idolizes. The conversation touches on his experience with a sex scandal, its impact on his career, and how he handled the media attention. Michael discusses his challenges with Sony Records in America, particularly regarding homophobia and his contract dispute after selling $150 million worth of albums. He reflects on his early life, including his transformation from a shy teenager to a pop star at age 19, and his role as a mentor to other celebrities like Robbie Williams and Geri Halliwell. The interview also explores his approach to career management and his emphasis on taking time to produce quality work.
Table of Contents
Highlights
George Michael’s Views on Musical Duets
George Michael discusses his perspective on duets, mentioning collaborations with Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, and Elton John. He expresses that he’s not particularly fond of duets in general, finding them somewhat ‘schmaltzy,’ but values them when working with artists he has idolized or deeply respects.
Dealing with Scandal and Media Attention
Michael reflects on a sex scandal and its aftermath, including the suppression of a track due to concerns about the R&B community’s attitude toward gay people in America. He describes finding humor in the situation after the initial shock, noting the surreal experience of helicopters flying around his house and crowds gathering outside.
Career Challenges and Industry Discrimination
The artist discusses his struggles with Sony Records in America, particularly regarding homophobia and discrimination. Despite selling 8 million copies worldwide with minimal promotion, he faced difficulties with executives who were known for being homophobic. He describes the challenges of being labeled as a ‘difficult English queer’ in the American market.
Personal Growth and Early Career
Michael shares his experience of achieving massive success at a young age, having the biggest selling album while only 25. He discusses the challenges of growing up in the public eye since age 18-19, and his need for space to develop personally.
Mentoring Role in the Industry
The interview explores Michael’s role as a mentor to other celebrities, particularly helping Geri Halliwell after she left the Spice Girls. He emphasizes his consistent advice to ‘take your time,’ highlighting the importance of quality over constant media presence. The segment includes Halliwell’s personal testimony about staying with Michael for three months during a difficult career transition.
Transcript
Mariella Frostrup 00:00
Mary-Jane Blige with Aretha Franklin and one with Elton John. I wondered for you, what is the appeal of duets?
George Michael 00:10
The only appeal really for me in duets, because I don’t particularly like the kind of idea of duets. It’s kind of the same kind of schmaltzy about it. But the only appeal is working with people that you’ve idolized, you know, or people that you have great respect for. The only appeal is working with people that you have great respect for.
Mariella Frostrup 00:30
Wasn’t there quite a strange response as well to the next single from the album “As” with Mary J Blige. That’s not coming out of the market, is that right?
George Michael 00:10
Yeah, in America we were forced by Mary J Blige’s record company to exclude the track from the American version of the greatest hits which meant the American fans couldn’t get hold of it. Which is very distressing, really.
Mariella Frostrup 01:00
But why?
George Michael 01:00
Well, there was no real reasoning other than the fact that I was fresh from a sex scandal, you know? And I think maybe they’re worried about the R&B community and their attitude to gay people in the States, whatever.
Whatever the reason, it was totally immoral as far as I’m concerned. And it’s a great track. She sings outrageously well on it, so it’s a great… You know, she wanted it out, she loves it. Her management wanted it out, but this particular individual in America didn’t want it out. And he had the power.
Mariella Frostrup 01:28
Was there any part of the whole scandal that actually made you laugh? Because you do tend to have a sense of humor about…
George Michael 01:36
I mean, I have to say, I mean, I was kind of laughing from about a day into it.
The first day was just awful, but after that, I mean, just the size of the event, the kind of controversy and the, you know, helicopters flying around the house and hundreds of people outside on the street and stuff like that.
And you’re thinking, all I did was get my willy out.
This video is… I had to address the issue. Now I think I’ve addressed the issue very loudly and succinctly. Exactly. I don’t need to address it anymore.
I’m not going to be wandering around. I mean I’m forever going to be the Sun and The Mirror’s gay pop star George Michael but I’m not in my own head. In my own head I’m the same person.
Paul Gambaccini 02:21
But you see, to me, he’d already come out in the most aesthetically pleasing fashion I’ve known
George Michael 02:28
For probably a year and a half, I couldn’t listen to anything that made me sad so I certainly couldn’t write it. You know I literally didn’t listen that voluntarily to any sad music for almost two years. That’s the effect that … that’s how close music is to my core I suppose.
But I’m very good at … I’m very good at turning that pain into something once it doesn’t threaten me anymore. You know and recalling it and I think obviously managed to recall the way I feel. I really felt a feel at the time, just without the [crying sound] stuff in, you know.
My album didn’t sell particularly well, right? That’s not actually the case, because really for an album that had no videos and no promotion, it sold like eight million copies worldwide eventually, it really was fine.
My issue was the way I was being dealt with by a couple of people in the American company who had power, who held the purse strings, all this stuff.
Paul Gambaccini 03:27
What I’m sure was the precipitating factor was an extraordinarily tasteless and insensitive remark about George made by a leading executive of Sony Records in the United States. The type of thing that when you hear it, you say, that’s over.
George Michael 03:45
The people that I had my problems with are fairly well known for being homophobic anyway, so that didn’t help. You know, that’s one thing being the difficult artist, and it’s even worse being, I’m talking about in the States, you know, you get the difficult artist label, then you get the difficult English artist label. But if you’re the difficult English queer, you know, as far as the Americans are concerned, then you’re on a hide into nothing, really.
I was 25 years old, I’d had the biggest selling album of the year. My ambitions had almost been recognized too quickly, and I was unhappy. I was lonely, and I wanted to sort my life out, and I think I had a right to do that. You know, I’d been a pop star since I was 19, 18, 19 years old.
I hadn’t had any space in which to grow up, you know, but there was no, there was no understanding of that from the American side of the company.
For the first time, because I was going through a difficult period in my life, and didn’t really know where to go, but knew that I wanted to pull back for more promotion and stuff, I thought that at least I’d be given the breathing space to sort it out where I wanted to go on from there as an artist.
But what happened was basically the minute I said okay right now I’m going through my difficult phase whatever it is and I was treated like shit, you know. and I just sold them 150 million dollars worth of albums. And that was what I couldn’t believe.
That was when I decided, okay I’m signed to a 30-year contract this is the time to do something about it and I’m still glad that I did it I had no choice.
Mariella Frostrup 05:24
You think that you were one of those teenagers that was like liberated by disco that whole thing of it didn’t matter who you were during the day you know it didn’t matter how you felt about yourself at night you could hit that dance floor and if you could dance
George Michael 05:35
Absolutely right. I mean I remember babysitting for a couple of kids over the road when I was about 13 or 14 and Andrew and I doing the most, I mean. ludicrously elementary disco sets like four forward one two three four and turn one two three four, you know like we’d practice them and then go to the school disco. I had only recently got rid of my glasses as well so I …
I was new I was newborn on a, on a kind of pulling level because suddenly I started to get invited to parties and the Kevin Keegan curly perm was in. So my hair, my natural hair, was perfect you know so I had all these kind of these things happened at the same time and suddenly thought I was yeah right you know and and it was it was liberating … There’s no question Saturday Night Fever changed my life.
Mariella Frostrup 06:28
Do you think that you’ve ever though really liberated yourself from that vision that you that you had of yourself as a as a child of this sort of shy podgy, fat, fat, fat teenager you know? Do you think that you’ve ever lost that self-image?
George Michael 06:44
No, and I never will. I’ve given up trying.
I don’t know why mine is so firmly entrenched; maybe because and it’s actually that it’s the first time I’ve really thought about it, but maybe because I didn’t have that period between childhood and adulthood where you really sort things out you know in the real world.
I went from like nobody wanted to know to everybody wanted to know. So I had that first kind of wave of overconfidence if anything for about two years. I mean everybody knows now that I hate cameras. About two years I was like, yeah, you know please take my picture, you know I’m gorgeous.
And then suddenly the kind of reality overtook again and I remembered who I was when I was a kid and kind of tried to find the real thing in between the two
Mariella Frostrup 07:32
And what about that pretty young boy, what did he want to be?
George Michael 07:34
A musician. He wanted to be David Cassidy.
Actually first I wanted to be David Cassidy because all the girls screamed at him. Then I wanted to be John Travolta because he could dance and all the girls screamed at him. I suppose I kind of ended up somewhere in between, didn’t I? If you think about it
Mariella Frostrup 07:54
It seems to be that when they’re in a spot by the stars do come to your door. Robbie Williams, one example. Jerry Halliwell, another. What is it they want and what do they get?
George Michael 08:05
I guess what people want, I think people look to me for some sense of survival because obviously I’ve gone through two or three periods where people thought my career was over for one reason or another.
And I think that’s what I’m kind of looked like. I’m kind of a first aid kit for people who’ve just gone through their first phase of celebrity.
Geri Halliwell 08:30
George was completely there when I needed him. Out of the blue, literally, when I first left the Spice Girls, I had nowhere to go.
Literally, I was on the run and, you know, being pursued by the media. And he said, oh, come and stay with me for a few days. And I ended up staying for three months.
I’ll tell you what, he gave me one piece of fantastic advice. When I first left the Spice Girls he said to me, you know, just take your time. I was so manic from coming out of that. He just said, you know, take your time really, you know, just, you know, trust in yourself and, you know, fans and people, they will wait for you.
They will. I was really panicked that that people wouldn’t wait and said, yeah, they will. He just really was, you know, he really calmed me down and told me to trust my instincts.
George Michael 09:25
My normal advice is always the same, take your time, take your time and do it right.
You know, there are so many .. there’s this feeling now that people have to constantly be in the media in order to retain recognition and the fact is recognition is worthless if what you’re doing is no good.
Geri Halliwell 09:44
You don’t have many friends in this world and I think most people can count their friends in their hands and, you know, I feel very lucky to have a friend like George. Very, very lucky.
George Michael 09:55
I’ve never rushed anything. That’s an understatement. I’ve never rushed anything and maybe I have a little of an advantage there in that, you know, my career is based around my songwriting ability and I’m in control of that so I don’t have the need necessary.
I don’t feel, I never really feel out of control but I still think that ultimately the public knows quality and there’s, you’ve got to find the balance between making sure people don’t forget you and making sure you don’t put out a crap record in case they forget you.
