Summary of James Gavin's George Michael

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 George’s father, Jack, was the model of a self-made 1960s man’s man. He had grown up with seven siblings in Cyprus, and in London he had started as a busboy and eventually became a waiter. He wanted to better his family’s situation, so he and his wife Lesley emigrated to London.

#2 Jack, the owner of the restaurant, was a shining immigrant success story. He had far more charisma than his partners, and he wanted to buy them out. He was a quiet boy, but his father did not appreciate his silence.

#3 George’s parents did not allow him to listen to music, but he found a way to get around it. He began taping songs off the radio, and after learning them by heart, he would sing them into his recorder. He would then play the recordings for his friends.

#4 In 1974, Georgios watched the American TV show The Partridge Family, which was hosted by David Cassidy, a pinup idol who had begun his first British tour that year. Georgios had a crush on Cassidy, and when he saw him kick a football on top of the twenty-four-story London Television Centre, he was completely blown away.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Sep 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350026085

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Insights on James Gavin's George Michael

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 22

Insights from Chapter 23

Insights from Chapter 24

Insights from Chapter 25

Insights from Chapter 26

Insights from Chapter 27

Insights from Chapter 28

Insights from Chapter 29

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

George Michael’s father, Jack, was a model of a self-made 1960s man’s man. He had grown up with seven siblings in Cyprus, and in 1953 emigrated to London with his wife and infant son. He wanted his son to carry on his name and his Greek heritage.

#2

Jack’s restaurant became a local sensation. He was a shining immigrant success story, but Simon Napier-Bell, the co-manager of Wham!, sensed a great coffin of angst somewhere in that family. Lesley had dutifully helped her husband ascend, but he worked her so hard that she grew angry and exhausted.

#3

George’s parents did not allow him to buy music, but he found a way to get it anyway. He began taping songs off the radio, then singing them into his recorder. He would play the recordings for his friends.

#4

When he was younger, Georgios had a crush on David Cassidy, a star of the American TV show The Partridge Family. In 1974, Cassidy began his first British tour, and girls from eight to eighteen were his fans. But when an adolescent girl died among the crush of fans, Cassidy began having second thoughts.

#5

Jack’s treatment of his son caused him to lose confidence in himself, and he began to believe that he was not good enough. He began to believe that he was fat and ugly, and that people were always cringing in front of him.

#6

I felt as if I were homely, but I had a strong sex drive. I had begun masturbating before puberty, and I had had clichéd straight fantasies like nuns with their tits out. At twelve, I lost my virginity to a girl.

#7

In 1975, Georgios moved to England with his family. He went to Bushey Meads School, and was mortified when the teacher mangled his name when she introduced him to the class. He spoke as little as possible, but when he did, out came his mother’s refined middle-class diction.

#8

The New Romantics were a movement of fashion-obsessed London clubgoers who milled about in elaborate costumes based on the Romantic age. Ridgeley was a fan of David Bowie, the glam rock idol. He was always self-possessed, and his touch of androgyny may have attracted a boy with nascent gay urges.

#9

Yog, however, struggled to keep up with his friend, especially in bars, where Andrew could outdrink almost anyone. One night, Yog got blind drunk and on the way home burst into tears. He would later claim that he had lots of girlfriends but never fell in love.

#10

While he lived for the radio, Yog used most of his pocket money to buy albums. He and his friends listened to ABBA, the Sex Pistols, and Donna Summer, and they wore out the two-LP Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

#11

George Michael’s mother had told him that her brother, who had been gay, had killed himself. George feared that he might be gay, and that the wrath of God was the reality for gay men.

#12

In 1979, when he was sixteen, Yog began wearing a close-trimmed beard, a slim-fitting white jacket, a skinny black tie, straight-leg white trousers, and white loafers. This was the look of the rude boy, and it was all the rage in late-seventies England.

#13

The group’s first performance was at a Methodist church in Bushey, and they met