Below is an interview with George Michael in Mojo Magazine Issue 250 published in August 2014, entitled “George Michael’s Self Portrait”
The East Finchley megastar in his own words and by his own hand.
I’d describe myself as …
51 years old English with a splash of Greek, tall, talented, good-looking, rich, adored, envied and a bad driver
Music changed me…
I wouldn’t say that music changed me. The essence of who I am has always been the same and has never changed. What it has done is change the circumstances around me.
When I am not making music…
I am just getting on with life.
My biggest vice is …
excess.
The last time I was embarrassed …
Er, well where do you want to start? Haven’t you read a newspaper in the last 15 years?
My formal qualifications are…
A few ‘O’s and a few ‘A’s. Give me a break, I was only 17 when I started all this stuff. I didn’t have any time for education. Also in my school report for my final exam, my math teacher said, “Who is George Panayotiou?” Clearly my attendance wasn’t good …
The last time I cried was…
When a friend of mine died earlier this year
Vinyl, CD or MP3? …
Well believe it or not the last CD a boy was [his album] Symphonica. I asked my PA to go and buy it because I wanted to check that they had the right formats in the shops. A little bit of quality control never hurts! I’ll do the same when the vinyl comes out in August. With vinyl, you have to really stay on top of things. You need to check the acetates, the test pressings and then the final product. It’s completely organic and it changes each time. With an artist like me, whose vocals are quite sibilant, you need to be on top of this stuff. Likewise with the artwork, because the visuals are so important on LP covers. It’s important that you’re on top of everything. CDs MP3s generally sound crap!
My most treasured possession is…
My health
The best book I’ve read is…
That’s a really tough question to answer. There are so many good books and they all mean something and they all have their place. Not sure I can really answer that.
Is the glass half full or half empty?…
I always like to think of my glass as half-full, generally. I’m a pretty optimistic person in life. Actually, what am I saying?! My glass has always been spilling over the top, so on that basis… half full.
My biggest regret is …
Splitting Wham! On a serious note, there are probably so many. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but not performing with Dave Gilmore at Carnegie Hall. That one slipped under the radar! Behavior-wise there have been probably been a few. Also, buying Chris Evans’ old house, gutting it, having to put it back together again, then selling it within the space of a month having seen and bought another place. Also, not asking Kate Moss to join Wham!
When we die…
According to my PA, who has lived 41 times before, we die but that’s not the end. Our soul nearly moves onto the next life she read the book Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss and it clicked for her. According to the book, life is one big lesson that we’re supposed to learn and we’re supposed to learn it here on earth. If we don’t it just comes back to haunt us next time. She’s clearly crazy.
I’d like to be remembered…
I’ve probably given the media quite a lot of fodder over the years, most of which has been quite well-documented with the odd headline here in there, and I’ve kept The Sun in business. However, while I’ve been doing all of that I have I have made the odd record or two and I guess that’s why people always keep a place for me in your heart. I always write my songs to touch people or strike a chord and I guess people really get that, so all in all I’d say for my music and hopefully being a really good friend to people and hopefully being a really caring, good and reliable person
Similar Posts:
- George Michael Interview with Capital FM Radio with Dr. Fox (Dec 1998)
- An Audience with George Michael: Interview with Chris Evans (1996)
- George Michael: The Lone Star State Interview on Q Magazine (June 1988)
- Desert Island Discs: George Michael Interview (2007)
- George Michael in Q Magazine Interview (October 1990)
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All the interviews and interesting new things about George in one handy place. I love it !
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