George by Sean Smith

Author:Sean Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

Part Three

You Have Been Loved

14

No Pictures

The man who created George Michael wanted the world to know that was not his name. He was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. He tried hard to reveal his true self in his auto-biographical book, Bare, published when he was twenty-seven.

He could have been basking in the triumph of winning the Grammy Award in 1999 for Best Album or being named by Forbes magazine as one of the five biggest earners in entertainment but, instead, he wanted to explain why he needed to take off the cloak of George Michael and hang it in the basement.

The book, written by the future best-selling novelist Tony Parsons, is immensely readable and does include fascinating insight into the singer and how he became a superstar. Tony had first interviewed him for The Face in the mid-nineties and they had become good friends, enjoying late-night discussions over a bottle of wine at George’s Hampstead home. In a typical gesture of friendship and fairness, George split the £430,000 publishing advance with him.

The irony for a book entitled Bare is that it didn’t reveal George’s sexuality. He did not discuss frankly ‘all aspects of his life’ as the jacket blurb declared. The only mention, for instance, of Brad Branson was in the picture credits for taking the front-cover photograph. George was, however, completely open about his feelings after the slog of the tour. He had become disillusioned with the image he’d created and wanted to refocus purely on his music.

George went back to Beverly Hills where, for a while, he lived the life of a privileged Californian. He topped up his tan, swam in his pool and took tennis lessons. He even treated his friends to a skiing break in the fashionable resort of Aspen in Colorado. He was also going through a very creative period, happy in his work writing the songs for the follow-up to Faith. This was much better than touring.

He decided a ‘holiday investment’ property would be a good idea and found a stunning house ninety miles to the north on a mountainside overlooking the ultra-exclusive Santa Barbara Riviera. He paid $3 million for this taste of paradise. The three-bedroom home, designed by West Coast architect Cliff Hickman, had been built in 1985 in a hexagonal shape that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Along with the usual millionaire trappings of beautiful gardens, pool and tennis court, there were also sixteen glass walls that afforded magnificent panoramic views of mountain, city and coast – all at the same time.

The first thing George did was to install a new gate, chain-link fencing and an elaborate security system in complete contrast to the more relaxed feel of his London home. He described it as ‘very big and very showbiz’. It was also perfect for throwing extravagant parties when he would invite his LA friends up for the weekend.

These now included Andrew Ridgeley, who had tired of Monte Carlo and dumped his fledging racing driver career in favour of the good life in Encino, Los Angeles, less than a mile from Michael Jackson’s house.

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