Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum recalls the George Michael he knew
DESPITE hearing rumours of George Michael’s ill health, Aussie pop guru Molly Meldrum still found the superstar’s death a “total shock”.
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IT has been a truly horrible year for losing musical superstars - it’s almost unbelievable to think that David Bowie, Prince and George Michael all passed away in the same 12 months.
I was lucky enough to know Bowie and Prince who were genuine superstars and George Michael belongs in that company too.
That word is seriously overused these days but it’s totally accurate in the case of George Michael.
I first remember seeing George when Wham!’s video for Young Guns (Go For It) came into the Countdown office back in 1982.
I loved that song, it was perfect for Countdown too.
That was still in the early days of Wham!, George and Andrew Ridgeley, the other member of the band, were both still very young.
We went to London to interview them for Countdown, and George was so shy.
Andrew did a lot of the talking, I remember looking to Andrew a few times and wondering if George was going to say anything.
But we became friends over a few more interviews and when Wham! came to Australia at the start of 1985, they were absolutely massive, it was mayhem.
This was just after Careless Whisper had been a major hit for George as a solo act, including in America - something a lot of British acts didn’t achieve.
He wrote Careless Whisper when he was just 16, it’s astonishing to think such a mature-sounding song could come out of him at that age.
Around that time Wham! released Last Christmas, it was out at the same time Band Aid did Do They Know It’s Christmas which is the only reason it didn’t go to No.1, and who would have thought we’d lose George on Christmas Day?
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is a classic pop song, I still play that when I’m DJing and no matter what the age of the people there they’ll know it and can sing along.
Wham! split up very early but it was inevitable he’d go solo as he was just so talented, although he and Andrew remained very good friends despite what people wanted to believe.
George paved the way for people like Robbie Williams and Justin Timberlake to leave boy bands and then to go on to be taken seriously as solo acts, Robbie even covered George’s Freedom 90.
George was a triple treat - not only was he an amazing songwriter, but he produced the songs himself and then he sang them with that stunning voice of his.
He was a perfectionist too, in the studio and on stage.
I saw him play around the world and he made sure everything went as well as it could, he treated all the musicians like part of the family.
He really came to life on stage, he was a superstar when he got up there.
I remember when he came to Australia on the Faith tour in 1988 his record label wanted to put a function on for him.
They arranged for a restaurant over looking Sydney Harbour and as a surprise to George they had a boat in the harbour full of fireworks.
They flicked the switch and it had ‘Welcome George Michael’ all lit up.
I was standing next to George and we realised they’d spelled his surname wrong. He said to me ‘I think I might go now’.
But he thought it was funny, even if the record company didn’t see the funny side.
We really got to see his sense of humour when he was ‘outed’ after that incident in the toilet in Los Angeles.
Knowing George, it could have really put him in a downward spiral, but he had good management and he got through it.
He actually embraced it and became an activist for gay causes and did a lot of charity work, that was in character for him, he was very rock solid about what he believed in.
Then he did the Outside video, where he took the piss out of the toilet situation, pardon the pun.
Everyone in the music industry admired George Michael so much. And like Prince, he did a lot of work for musicians to fight for their rights as far as publishing and record companies go. George signed a bad contract with Wham!, he was very aware about his rights after that.
Prince was a compulsive writer of songs, George would work and work and work on songs until they were perfect before he would release them.
I really hope we get to hear some of the unreleased songs both of them left behind.
Like Bowie, Prince and even Michael Jackson being that famous meant there was a lot of focus on their personal life, but really the music is what matters.
He had a remarkable catalogue of songs.
I hadn’t seen George for a few years, there were whispers about his health but we’d heard he was planning a new album for next year so this was a total shock.
I will remember George as a truly special artist, both as a performer and a recording artist, and most importantly a true gentleman.
I’ll be so glad to see the end of 2016, it’ll wipe away all the superstars we’ve lost this year, people that are irreplaceable.
Bring on midnight New Year’s Eve!
Originally published as Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum recalls the George Michael he knew
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