Original subtitles

[ominous music playing]

On Christmas day 2016,

we heard with shock and disbelief

that our dear friend George Michael had passed away.

Only days before he was putting the finishing touches

to the film your about to see.

This is George's film Freedom.

And it's his final work.

["Fast Love" playing by George Michael]

♪ Looking for some education ♪

♪ Made my way into the night ♪

♪ All that bullshit, conversation ♪

♪ Baby can't you read the signs? ♪

♪ I won't bore you with the details baby ♪

♪ I don't even wanna waste your time ♪

♪ Let's just say that maybe You could help to ease ♪

♪ My mind ♪

♪ I ain't Mr. Right ♪

♪ But if you're looking for ♪

♪ Fast love ♪

♪ If that's love in your eyes ♪

♪ It's more than enough ♪

♪ Had some bad love ♪

♪ Some fast love ♪

♪ Is all that I've got on my mind ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ♪

["Fantasy" playing by George Michael]

♪ Give you all the lovin' that your heart ♪

♪ Ooh yeah ♪

♪ Give you all the lovin' that your heart ♪

♪ Desires ♪

♪ Give you all the lovin' that your heart ♪

♪ Desires... ♪

[George Michael] In 1988,

George Michael became the biggest selling artist in the world.

This is the story of just how fame and tragedy intervened

to change his life forever.

[rock music playing]

[George] I was massively unhappy and lonely.

I remember standing there with a tear in my eye thinking,

I really don't know if I'll ever do this again.

And it changed everything from that day to this.

I was single, I hadn't come out.

If I could have the self awareness and the strength to walk away,

I could change my life.

I felt that stepping back would

save me from somehow screwing up my career.

Er,

yeah, waiting please.

[man] Here we go!

[guitar music plays]

[Mary J. Blige] I first became aware of George Michael's

music when I was probably, like,

I was definitely a little girl.

♪ Doo, do, doo do ♪

[Tracey Emin] I think his music was really,

it's just there in your psyche. I just think it's,

it's not even taken for granted, it's just there in the ether.

♪ Well there ain't no point in moving on ♪

♪ Until you've got somewhere to go ♪

♪ And the road that I have walked upon ♪

♪ Well it filled my pockets And emptied out my soul ♪

[Tracey Emin] He's got a voice like an angel.

There's certain songs that you could ask George just to sing

and it would make people cry,

just the resonance of this voice.

♪ And some of them are about you ♪

[Elton John] It comes from someone who has felt pain.

And it comes from someone who has a deep talent.

♪ Now I know there's no way I can write those wrongs ♪

♪ Believe me... ♪

[Stevie Wonder] George is...

in the category of many of us

who have been blessed with the gift of music.

♪ ...there's a way back for every man ♪

♪ So here I am ♪

[Naomi Campbell] There's no voice like his on the radio.

♪ Oh, don't people change ♪

♪ Here I am ♪

♪ Is it too late to try again ♪

♪ Here I am ♪

[George Michael] I genuinely believe that there's something

very odd about people in my position.

But the central belief that my musical journey

would be of my own making

has been the thing that's informed almost every decision

I've ever made in terms of my career.

I have a musical ability which was,

powered as a young, as a teenager

it was powered by this desperate ambition to be famous

and to be loved and respected, whatever.

Um,

and all I wanted at that time was success.

[rock music playing]

[George Michael] I had no master plan.

I didn't know if I was going to be a singer or anything but,

at school I met Andrew.

And we formed this ska band called The Executive

and we were terrible, basically.

But Andrew and I had already developed an act for writing these catchy little songs.

And we got together a couple of tracks,

one was called Careless Whisper

and one was called Wham Rap.

[rock music playing]

The 80's was the most depressing sort of demoralizing

times that we've ever had for young people in British history.

Because of the recession because of everything,

because of mass unemployment.

So I think music then was probably really, really important.

In terrible depression,

you have the people that come out and say,

" This is terrible, this is terrible depression."

♪ This town ♪

♪ Is becoming a ghost town ♪

And then you have the escapist

things that go let's party.

♪ Young Guns, Having some fun ♪

♪ Crazy ladies keep 'em on the run ♪

♪ Wise guys realize ♪

♪ There's danger in emotional ties. ♪

♪ See me, single and free ♪

♪ No tears, no fears, what I want to be ♪

♪ One, two, take a look at you ♪

♪ Death by matrimony! ♪

[Ricky Gervais] It wasn't all sugary.

He was singing about being on the dole and having kids and you know,

there was a bit of social commentary there and he was embracing this,

this new fangled thing called rap.

You know, dressed like someone from West Side Story.

We should have known then.

[music playing]

Then Club Tropicana taught us,

"Don't worry, you can sun tan."

It predicted global warming way before its time. [laughs]

♪ Club Tropicana drinks are free ♪

I mean, I can't get the little white shorts out of my head.

♪ Call me good ♪

♪ Call me bad... ♪

I'll be very honest,

I was a Culture Club fan.

And we used to throw eggs at the Wham fans.

They were massive, weren't they, Wham and George Michael and that?

It was like, they were just fucking everywhere weren't they?

♪ Baby I'm your man ♪

[James Corden] Anyone of my generation,

you really can't remember the first time you heard about George Michael

if you grew up in the UK, because he's just part of the fabric, of it.

[Jean Paul Gaultier] So it's the time of Wham,

which was like a lot of fun. I was going to clubs,

like Heaven etcetera.

And it was a lot of fun and we loved it.

It was truly represented the time, you know.

♪ Uh huh huh ♪

♪ Oh yeah... ♪

I'm sure our kid, me older brother, I'm sure he was,

I'm sure he had a bit of a Wham moment, you know what I mean?

♪ Somebody told me ♪

♪ Boy, everything she wants ♪

♪ Is everything she sees... ♪

[Ricky Gervais] Nobody felt I was too old to like them.

I felt a bit ashamed that I was liking this teen band.

But they were great, they had something else. They had a lot more.

♪ And now you tell me that you're having my baby ♪

♪ I'll tell you that I'm happy if you want me to ♪

♪ But one step further... ♪

[George Michael] Wham itself was an absolute joy.

It was joyous as it sounded.

They say youth is wasted on the young.

My god what a wonderful joy ride for two 18 year-olds.

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah... ♪

[George Michael] There was a humor about Wham that no one ever gave us credit for.

We were so taking the piss out of ourselves half the time.

How can the country be in love with these two idiots?

I knew how to make these records and make them jump out of the radio.

And the idea that just because I was wearing

ridiculous shorts and um,

curtain rings in my ears

would actually stop people from noticing that.

When I look back, it's kinda, I still think it's kind of stunning.

♪ Don't you think that ♪

♪ I know it ♪

[audience cheers]

[George Michael] By the end of it,

I had no doubt that I could become an international

solo success.

And it's as though there's...

always been this red line.

I see like a red line which goes through everything.

Like a staircase of whatever you're about to do next.

And I could feel that at the final concert.

I already had one foot in my solo career.

[audience chanting] We want more!

Okay, then.

that's enough of that.

[Tracey Emin] I'm not ever gonna be a fan of boy band right,

it's not going to happen.

When he went solo,

the whole thing went up ten notches.

♪ Time can never mend ♪

♪ The careless whisper ♪

♪ Of a good friend ♪

I think he was the first one that was definitely an obvious teen band

to then go on and be a serious singer song writer.

And, take over the world.

♪ There's things that you guess ♪

♪ And things that you know ♪

[Ricky Gervais] It's still very rare for an act like that to go to America.

[George Michael] The 80's. just spawned this handful

of massive celebrities

that were constantly battling in the charts.

♪ That's all I wanted ♪

♪ Something special, something sacred ♪

♪ In your eyes ♪

[George Michael] If I was looking for happiness,

this was the wrong road.

But I don't think there's any way I could have controlled

my ego enough to have stopped me

exploring the possibility of being the biggest selling artist in the world.

So I went with full gusto into creating a new character.

You know, one I thought would be resonant enough to stand up

there next to Madonna and Jackson and Prince.

And I guess I did that pretty effectively alongside

what was a very, very commercial record.

♪ Well I guess it would be nice ♪

♪ If I could touch your body ♪

♪ I know not everybody ♪

♪ Has got a body like you ♪

[Emmanuelle Alt] The attitude, it was creating like a,

personage, as we call it, you know. It was very charismatic.

In every video, it was very strong impact.

♪ Oh but I ♪

♪ Need some time off from that emotion ♪

[Jean Paul Gaultier] He's like er, in coming in, in jeans,

you know. And like tight and sexy and like, rock image.

And moving with the hips like that, you know.

A little like Wham before, you know.

A little like that but more like, sexy.

Check this out then, modern day Elvis.

♪ I gotta faith ♪

[Stevie Wonder] I liked the spirit of Faith.

Because you do have to have it.

I'm amazed,

♪ Baby ♪

♪ Baby ♪

Yeah, I remember that.

[George Michael] I didn't realize

that people would look at the Faith image and go,

"Fuck that's cool."

♪ You say I'm giving you the blues ♪

I was really, really overwhelmed by the size of things I suppose.

I lived in fucking sunglasses,

I couldn't make eye contact with people. It was bizarre.

♪ And another who tied me down to lover boy rules ♪

I still suffered terribly with insecurity about my looks.

It goes back to a family background where conceit

of any kind was considered an absolute sin.

So no one was ever praised about the way they looked.

♪ Well I need someone to hold me ♪

♪ But I wait for something more ♪

♪ Yes I've gotta have faith ♪

Faith was number one in Britain

for one week,

but in America, number one for twelve weeks.

And then on top of that, he had four number one singles,

a number two single

and a number five single.

In 1988 he was the biggest pop star in the world.

♪ 'Cause I've gotta have faith ♪

♪ I gotta to have faith, faith, faith, uh ♪

[Mary J. Blige] All I remember is

Faith being played fifty times a day on MTV.

You had to be in heavy rotation on whatever pop station you were on.

Duran Duran, David Bowie,

Eurhythmics' was played on MTV like constantly.

Played on all the video stations.

You really didn't hear any of those artists,

but you hear George Michael on some of the urban stations.

Right after Luther Vandross.

His music broke the rule to everybody.

[George Michael] In America, radio play for me

was substantial on a lot of R&B stations.

He uniquely received recognition on the R&B soul charts

that very few white performers ever got.

He obviously had studied American soul music

and felt a connection and kindred spirit.

We were introduced to each other.

So we're going back now to about '86 maybe.

And it was his thought that he wanted to

do a duet with one of my artists.

♪ When the river was deep ♪

♪ I didn't falter ♪

♪ When the mountain was high ♪

♪ I still believed ♪

♪ When the valley was low ♪

♪ It didn't stop me ♪

♪ It didn't stop me now ♪

♪ No no ♪

♪ I knew you were waiting ♪

♪ Some way ♪

♪ Some how... ♪

[George Michael] It was great that I had my own voice

and I'd worked with Aretha Franklin

and everything had gone so well.

From an artistic point of view, it just got better and better.

George Michael's voice to me was always very soulful.

And was very um,

warm and sultry and urgent.

He had soul, period.

Soul is um, an expression of the soul of the heart.

[George Michael] It was good to be a Number one in the black charts.

It was an amazing thing to see obviously.

[Mark Ronson] England has a great love affair

with American black music and R&B

and a great tradition of our own interpretation of soul music and that thing.

But he's, he's kind of up there at the pinnacle of it.

♪ But remember this ♪

♪ Every other kiss ♪

♪ That you ever give ♪

♪ Long as we both live ♪

♪ When you need the hand of another man ♪

♪ One you really can surrender with ♪

♪ I will wait for you ♪

♪ Like I always do ♪

♪ There's something there ♪

♪ That can't compare ♪

♪ With any other ♪

[George Michael] Making that album,

I'm sure I was incredibly proud of it.

But I don't think I ever imagined it would be bigger than Wham.

[Nile Rodgers] I imagine that the pressure on someone like George must've been insane,

because he was doing stuff that was just so phenomenal.

After you have that kind of success,

like what do you, what do you go home at night and go,

"Now what do I do?"

[George Michael] I do remember it being shocking to me

that I could become more successful then I had been with Wham.

I suppose the whole exercise was an effort to raise

my profile and define what my solo image was going to be.

But I really had no idea how effective

it was going to be especially in America.

And I had no idea what it was like to be that big in America.

[Tracey Emin] George is really, really private.

And I think when he was young with all that fame.

I think it just came too fast and it wasn't actually what he was expecting.

I was probably most out,

out of control in any kind of sense of

that during the whole Faith thing.

[David Austin] Being caught in, in the eye of this storm is catastrophic.

It's just 24/7, full time,

in your face. I mean,

the wind burn is terrible.

[George Michael] I can't really explain how overwhelming

that kind of hysteria can be if there's only one person to absorb it.

When I was with Andrew it was so easy to keep one foot in my old life,

the life that I'd known with him before we'd been famous.

It was so easy to keep each other grounded,

to take the piss out of each other

and be able to look at each other and talk about

the madness that was going on around us.

But when you can't do that, suddenly it is scary.

I don't know many 24 year olds

who would not have...

at least subconsciously

found that frightening enough to self-destruct.

[Paul Russell] Now the problem is, the record came out everywhere in the world

pretty much at the same time,

so everybody wanted a piece of George to help promote, um,

the album.

Enormous pressure.

Huge, huge pressure.

[George Michael] Ten months of that was enough to

really push me to the edge.

I was terribly lonely...

me and my red line were very lonely.

and the only good part of my day was playing live.

When I sang Careless Whisper,

I can't remember which was the last gig on the American tour,

which would have been the end of the whole tour.

I think it was Pensacola.

But when I sang Careless Whisper that night,

I remember standing there with a tear in my eye thinking,

I really don't know if I'll ever do this again.

♪ Time can never mend ♪

[crowd cheering]

♪ The careless whispers ♪

♪ Of a good friend ♪

♪ To the heart and mind ♪

♪ Ignorance is kind ♪

♪ There's no comfort in the truth ♪

♪ Pain is all... ♪

[jazz music plays]

[George Michael] I was intelligent enough to know

I should not be...

trying to catch up with Michael Jackson,

or Madonna or whatever,

which was absolutely what I was intent on doing.

I felt that tired and exhausted

at being the center of that much attention.

I suppose the way my lack of mental balance showed itself

was that I actually,

really began to hide away when I got home.

And I did almost nothing for a year

but try and reestablish some idea of a real life.

Music was my very controlling lover.

I had millions of lovers that I never saw

other than in the sense of live work.

But I still deserved one, just one of them for me.

And I knew that the only way I was going to find that one person,

that lover, was to jump off of the merry-go-round

just for long enough to catch my breath.

And letting my heart rule my head rather than, you know,

the red line.

The red line that goes, up, up, up.

Sometimes you feel like he's,

he's got like a layer or two of skin missing.

Like he, like he just, like he, he,

like he bruises easier.

And because of that he can write these amazing songs.

But I never wanted to be someone else.

I wanted to be a star and I wanted people to love me

and recognize me in the street as a child that's what I wanted.

But I never really never wanted to be someone else.

I believe I am a writer much more than anything else.

And I want to leave songs. I believe I can leave songs that, that will be,

will mean something to other generations.

This award is for favorite soul and R&B album.

[George Benson] And the winner is...

George Michael.

George Michael!

[crowd cheers]

I've been a lover of, um, soul music since I was a kid

and, I'd just like to thank everybody who's helped me this year.

I'd like to thank black radio.

I'd like to thank everyone at CBS records in the R&B department.

And I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me,

I can't believe it. Thank you very much.

[crowd cheers]

[George Michael] I'd won these do awards that were traditionally received

by black artists.

And I think there was a perception that it had gone too far.

[Gladys Knight] The black male artist works very hard to get his due.

And Bobby Brown had across the board play.

And he could compete in the same category as George Michael competes in,

that would be a whole other thing.

[George Michael] This was the same point in time that Public Enemy arrived,

Spike Lee arrived.

Playback.

- Spike Lee what's up, man! - What's up, Flavor Flav,

LP is in the house!

Flavor Flav at the American Music Awards

What's George Michael doing there?

How'd he win all awards? How'd he win R&B category?

[George Michael] Suddenly cross over was not hip.

And I see their point.

I totally saw their point at the time.

I just felt it was sad you know,

that white and black people recording together

suddenly was kind of dancing with the enemy.

You mean George is White?

Are you serious?

Oh, my God.

And he is blind, right?

[David Austin] I think it had a huge effect on George,

because he'd won in this category.

He'd achieved something that,

that was beyond his wildest dreams,

only to have the carpet pulled from under his feet.

I don't think there's any attempt to, to kind of um,

steal black heritage in what I'm doing.

All, all I think that's happening is I'm trying to make good music.

Music is not based on the color of one's skin,

or you know, this is, well this is soul music

or this is pop or this is...

to me those things, is kind of old you know what I mean?

[guitar music playing]

[George Michael] I suddenly couldn't get anywhere near radio, black radio.

And that was the reason really.

Listen Without Prejudice was called Listen Without Prejudice.

It was me saying here's an album that has bits of gospel,

you know, bits of R&B.

Some very white stuff.

And it was just trying to say, "Let me be both of these things

without having to be one or the other.

[Liam Gallagher] I don't know if I bought it, stole it

or it just sort of like, just got delivered.

You know what I mean, sometimes you get albums like that,

don't you, you know what I mean?

They just, they're that great they just end up in your house.

[Elton John] What can I say about the sound of it?

It's very ethereal. It's a, it has a mystery about it.

George on this album got everything that he had inside his gut

onto vinyl or CD or cassette.

And, thank God he did.

Well let's have a party pop pickers.

[Praying For Time plays]

In fucking one.

This song now,

it's got such a big opening and message actually I think.

[Elton John] That opening, it reminds me of John Lennon.

Like off one of John's solo albums.

♪ These are the days of the open hand ♪

♪ They will not be the last Look around now ♪

♪ These are the days of the beggars and the choosers ♪

[Mary J. Blige] When I listen to George Michaels songs,

I think, not only he's tapped into his dark side,

whatever's going on in his life.

But he's tapped into the truth about who he is

and what he is and what life is.

And he wasn't afraid to share that with us.

♪ The rich declare themselves poor ♪

♪ And most of us are not sure ♪

♪ If we have too much ♪

♪ But we'll take our chances ♪

♪'Cause God's stopped keeping score ♪

♪ I guess somewhere along the way ♪

♪ He must have let us all out to play ♪

♪ Turned his back and all God's children ♪

♪ Crept out the back door... ♪

Not only really just his writing but it's the vocal performance you know.

And it's always just like.

It just always feels so honest.

You just believe kind of every word that he sings.

And even the ad libs.

Even him throwing out a line

is like better than most people's verses.

When I hear that,

it is right up there, you know what I mean? And then,

you get into the lyrics.

The one that jumps out is 'the rich declare themselves poor'.

I like it because it's got a bit of a dig, you know what I mean?

I mean, that's the way I take it anyway.

It's like you bunch of fucking cunts you know what I mean,

always fucking playing the poverty card.

I like that because it's got a bit of a Lennon vibe.

He likes to dig people out.

There was no one before the Beatles that did them kind of songs.

It's a classic. It's up there, I'd say,

it could have been cut with the same cloth as imagine, you know what I mean?

[music stops]

Oh, it's a bit much isn't it?

I didn't expect to be as moved as I am.

♪ Let me tell you a secret ♪

♪ Put it in your heart and keep it ♪

♪ something that I want you to know ♪

[George Michael] It was my time to discover the Beatles

and at the time I was big into Abbey Road and Revolver and you know.

And it's the people that you're trying to emulate sometimes can bring you up.

I made one record to show how much I loved Lennon.

I made another record to show how much I loved McCartney.

I didn't dream that McCartney would ever sing it.

And actually, when he sings it, it sounds like a Paul McCartney record.

The next week we're going to do um, some vocals yeah?

[Paul] In a couple of days.

[George Michael] It's the most surreal moment of my career I think,

to have Paul McCartney singing

something that I wrote as a tribute to Paul McCartney.

I don't think I would've had the nerve to ask him when I wrote it.

Sounds like a fucking group.

Cool.

♪ In your heart now ♪

♪ I'll be good to you ♪

♪ I can make this thing too ♪

♪ I'll get to your heart somehow ♪

♪ Yeahhh ♪

Yeah, c'mon lad.

[Paul McCartney] ♪ Yeahhh ♪

[George Michael] You know the man forgot to introduce me.

[guitar music plays]

I heard the beginning of Baby You Can Drive My Car start.

There's this bit of film of me going,

So that's what I did, I just ran on just before

I was supposed to sing the chorus.

♪ Song in-between ♪

♪ Baby you can drive my car ♪

[Mary J. Blige] I haven't done this in a long time.

["They Won't Go When I Go" plays ]

See how piano based the album is.

♪ No more lying friends ♪

♪ Wanting tragic ends ♪

♪ Though they do pretend ♪

♪ They won't go when I go ♪

I mean it sounds like Stevie.

I love this song.

♪ All those bleeding hearts... ♪

I hear [laughs]

so much,

like, exhaustion.

Like not exhaustion in him as an artist,

but exhaustion in him you know,

as a human.

In this world that we live in I hear a fight.

[laughs]

Sometimes you know,

you definitely hear the pure talent.

Pure talent.

I hear hope.

Brilliant.

They Won't Go When I Go for sure,

like that was, that was probably my

introduction even to Stevie Wonder.

[Stevie Wonder] The version he did of They Won't Go When I Go,

it brings back a lot of memories because they,

um, it's a thought that at the end of the day...

we come um,

alone in this world and we will, and we will die alone.

Er, and it's what we do in between that's going to determine how and what,

we'll be remembered as and we can think about it in spirit.

So it was great to hear him sing the song.

[plays electric keyboard]

♪ Unclean minds mislead the pure... ♪

I'm actually crying, so you know, um.

It takes a massive amount of bravery

for George to do a song like that.

When you go to an area

that you know is sort of like sacred ground [laughs]

you're going to a place um,

because your heart tells you to go there.

You have a love of something and you, you want to be,

you want to live in that world.

The reason for me doing so many Stevie Wonder covers,

I've done in over various sets I've done like four or five

Stevie Wonder covers and um, apart from the fact

that I, I consider him to be an incredible writer um,

his voice the, the key that he was writing

for at that time was perfectly suited to my voice.

♪ His patience's long but soon he won't have any ♪

♪ To find a job is like a haystack needle ♪

♪ Cause where he lives they don't use colored people ♪

♪ Living just enough ♪

♪ Just enough for the city... ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ La, La, La, La, La, La, ♪

[Stevie Wonder] Well George reminds me of me

as a little kid you know.

My, my passion for music.

He and I doing, Living In The City,

I remember that. It was a lot of fun.

Chemistry is something that you can't fake.

It's about how you relate to each other

and how it connects.

[George Michael] I'm aware of the need for persona.

And my actual persona I'm not really prepared to give.

I'm a real homebody.

I'd much rather be taking my dog for a walk,

or you know, be with friends.

I feel like I don't belong out there,

being this professional person going around selling his wares.

[Ricky Gervais] He had a much harder journey than me in a way

because if you get fame

and accolades and wealth beyond your wildest dreams

as a teenager

it usually goes wrong.

But he, he obviously had a wiser head on his shoulders than most.

Like I think a lot of young musicians now are kind of you know,

what's the word...

manufactured.

And I think for him he didn't ever want to be like that.

And, and part of his reactionary way was to break away from all of that.

[George Michael] I was still struggling with the idea of having that much attention.

And I think I recoiled from that.

And I felt that stepping back would save me from

somehow screwing up my career.

I, I see kind of hard sell promotion as prostituting myself.

I can't help it. Even if it's a complete fallacy,

that's how I see it. I'm of that generation.

He felt he needed to withdraw from the merry-go-round

that is promoting an album.

And explained in a very articulate way

that he just felt he had to withdraw from that

for the moment for his own sanity.

That we'd probably get more albums out of him,

if we just allowed him to back off.

Er, it was quite a, a bombshell I suppose for us to have to deal with.

The fact that he didn't do any promotion of it,

it begs you know, it's quite astonishing.

["Freedom 90's" playing]

[Elton John] What's coming up now,

is one of the great intro's.

[mimics intro]

And I, it's not me on piano either.

Which is...

I always hated him for that.

♪ I won't let you down ♪

♪ I will not give you up ♪

♪ Gotta have some faith in the sound ♪

♪ It's the one good thing that I've got ♪

♪ I won't let you down ♪

♪ So please don't give me up ♪

♪ 'Cause I would really, really love to stick around ♪

♪ Oh yeah ♪

[Mark Ronson] Freedom 90's kind of like this

funk groove masterpiece that just comes in and like Track 2.

You're striving to make something every time you go in the studio

half as good as a record like that.

It's the Mona Lisa.

♪ Heaven knows I was just a young boy ♪

♪ Didn't know what I wanted to be ♪

Big changement. He's not there.

He doesn't appear.

Beautiful girls are there. The top, top, top, top model.

♪ And I guess it was enough for me ♪

[George Michael] If you're gonna say to your record company look,

I'm not gonna be in this video,

I'd say that's a fairly good consolation prize really.

Five absolutely gorgeous super models

that people still want to look at today.

♪ On your rock and roll T.V. ♪

[Elton John] It changed the whole face of how videos were done.

The video said everything. It was genius.

And it was a, a revolutionary thing.

George had raised the bar to whole new level.

[Emmanuelle Alt] That was like a big statement.

It was really well done. It could have been a disaster.

[Cindy Crawford] It was a specific group of women that George wanted

and that had just been on the cover of British Vogue

that was shot by Peter Lindbergh.

It was like, he wants you five and it has to be all of you five.

♪ Sometimes the clothes do not make the man ♪

Now in fashion there is no supermodels like, like this.

This is gone.

It was like the magic moment of modeling.

I suppose that's the lasting memory of that whole video shoot,

was the cost of the girls and the fees they were charging on a daily basis.

That was pretty ground breaking.

George pitched it to me in LA

and his exact words were,

"You're the leader of the gang

and unless you say yes, the rest of the girls won't"

His people talked to my people.

Yeah, you know how it went back then.

It was like, well, is Christy doing it?

♪ I will not give you up ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ You've gotta give for what you take ♪

[Christy Turlington] My scene where I'm sort of crawling

on the ground and you can just see my eyes.

People think, oh that's so, so like sexy and mysterious.

It's just really, I didn't know the words. [laughs]

[Linda Evangelsita] I prepared in the trailer with George.

He showed me how to hit the notes

and it's hard to lip-sync.

[Christy Turlington] David Fincher was directing it

and even though the shot ended up looking

like the steamy bath scene, there was no water in the tub,

I was freezing cold.

I was covered in glycerin to make my skin shiny.

And I kind of thought,

I hope Fincher knows what he's doing.

[Christy Turlington] I remember David and George working closely together.

He was, you know, right there looking through the lens at times.

[Tatyjana Patitz] Everything suited each girl.

So I think it was just strong and we were all so different.

It's such a fun song.

I mean you listen to the words and kind of the statement,

it has much more meaning.

And I feel like that whole time for George Michael

was about him saying,

"Enough, like you guys tried to prepackage me

and sell me in a way that wasn't authentic.

♪ Ooh somehow ♪

♪ All we have to see ♪

♪ Is that I don't belong to you ♪

♪ And you don't belong to me, yeah yeah ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ I won't let you down ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ I will not give you up... ♪

You can see the biker,

jacket which is burning like with fire.

So it's like symbolic.

[Mark Ronson] I got the impression he was saying, like,

"That's chapters closed and I'm done being

a public figure pop star."

[George Michael] The burning of the jacket,

the exploding guitar, the exploding juke box

was me just saying I'm sick of this.

I really can't cope with it.

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ You've gotta give for what you take ♪

[Andy Stephens] Not only were we not going to get him appearing in promotional videos,

but we weren't going to get his image on the album sleeve.

We weren't going to get his name on the album sleeve.

Would I have chosen that album sleeve that wasn't the beach shot

taken from 1940 or whatever it was, yeah.

Would I have like his name on the al...

yeah. Of course I would.

A lot of people are just pimping themselves out

24/7 you know what I mean?

And there's mystique about George Michael.

♪ But today the way I play the game has got to change ♪

♪ oh yeah ♪

♪ Now I'm gonna get myself happy ♪

[Elton John] In making records it's fun,

and then you have to talk about it,

which is not fun.

Yeah, I thought it was bonkers.

But then it all makes sense doesn't it?

[George Michael] When I spoke to the Los Angeles Times

about stepping back from promotion,

Frank Sinatra wrote me an open letter that just said you know,

"Just get over it. Be glad that God gave you a gift and get out there and use it."

I don't think he wrote the letter.

I actually believe that was the work of a publicist,

not the work of a genius.

What a wonderful letter.

Here, probably the greatest male singer of all time

is saying, "Embrace your talent.

Enjoy the, the success.

Don't be threatened by it."

[George Michael] Now, even though he's the greatest singer that ever walked the planet

as far as I'm concerned,

I wasn't taking any advice from Frank Sinatra.

You can't put a gun to any creative person's head and say,

"Create, write, promote, market, whatever.

They, you just have to go with it. That's what we had to do.

[George Michael] By now, even though I thought I'd delivered them

what I felt was a great album and a visual feast

in the form of Freedom 90,

Sony America was not promoting Listen Without Prejudice.

In the meantime, I did the one thing I was prepared to do...

live work.

[rock music plays]

[audience cheering]

[George Michael] The basis for me going to do Rock In Rio was that I wanted to see Brazil.

♪ SO you want ♪

♪ To be free? ♪

♪ To live your life ♪

♪ The way you want to be ♪

♪ Will you give... ♪

[George Michael] At the front of this 160,000 people

there was this guy over on the right hand side of the stage

that just fixed me with this look.

And he was so cute,

I was so distracted by him,

that I stayed away from that end of the stage for a while.

Because otherwise I thought I was going to get really distracted

and forget the words or something, you know?

♪ Tainted hearts ♪

♪ Heal with time ♪

♪ Shoot bad love ♪

♪ So we can stop... ♪

[George Michael] The moment I looked at him,

I got the feeling

that told me I was going to know him very well

and that he was going to be a part of my life.

♪ Solitary brother ♪

♪ Is there still a part of you that wants to live? ♪

Anselmo was the first time I think I really loved someone selflessly.

It was kind of immediate.

Everybody, with the exception of my family

was introduced to him very, very quickly.

Because I felt immediately that everything had changed.

♪ Solitary sister ♪

[David Austin] All our friends knew of course.

I remember seeing him and just thinking how,

I just feeling so happy for him.

The two of them met and it changed George's life.

[soft music playing]

It's very hard to be proud of your own sexuality

when it hasn't brought you any joy.

Once it's, once it is associated with joy and love,

it's easy to be proud of who you are.

It's the first time you actually believe somebody loves you um,

that's a wonderful moment in your life

and it was a wonderful six months.

[George] What a poser.

He was just very full of energy,

very loving,

I was happier than I'd ever been in my entire life.

[David Austin] He didn't care who saw him with Anselmo.

He found something.

He found what he was looking for you know.

[George Michael] By the time I met Anselmo,

I had made the decision to jump off the merry-go-round.

And I was already in the early stages of my confrontation with Sony.

Recording an album

and then saying,

"I'm not going to promote it or I'm not going to market it,

I'm not going to participate."

That's a serious detriment to an album.

I think we had personality issues

between um,

between people in the UK and people in the American company.

Why wasn't this Faith part 2?

We want all those nice pop songs.

What do you mean he's not going to promote it,

or he's not going to have his image on it?

That's like saying I'll do a movie but I,

I won't do one premier,

I won't do any interviews for the movie, you know.

You say, "Oh my God."

[Tracey Emin] The moment someone says to a musician

or to an artist make more of them or do more of that,

it kills you.

And I think probably for someone like George,

especially at certain times of his career,

he must have felt quite trapped.

In England they made an effort.

And Listen Without Prejudice outsold Faith.

And in lots of places it outsold Faith

because I think it was actually a better album.

But it wasn't about that it was about the total and utter lack

of respect that the minute somebody doesn't see themselves

as a commodity, that they actually have the audacity to think,

"My God I am actually creating something

and I must keep myself sane in order to do that."

The minute, minute somebody does that they're over.

We tried very, very hard

to get the American executives to come over

and listen to why George felt the way that he did from George.

'Cause there was no one better to put that forward than George Michael telling them,

as he had told us...

the reasons how he really felt deep down.

But they wouldn't come.

[George Michael] There were executives that came to London

in 1989 and we played them the record.

I explained to them that Faith had taken me to the edge of madness.

That I wanted to be a long term player in this business.

Now any logical CEO I think would have thought okay,

he's gonna do this,

he'll get it out of his system and he'll get back on board.

George is very stubborn.

He's incredibly one of the most stubborn people I've met.

Um, but he was right to be stubborn on this occasion.

And I'm sure the record company recoiled in horror.

[George Michael] It was very much a clash of cultures really.

In America there was definitely a door that shut.

♪ But losing everything ♪

♪ Is like the sun going down on me ♪

[George Michael] I managed to have a couple of really big hit records in the meantime.

There was the track with Elton.

And of course the Red Hot and Dance album came out.

["Too Funky" playing]

♪ Hey, you're just too funky for me ♪

♪ I gotta get inside of you ♪

♪ And I'll show you heaven, if you let me ♪

[Linda Evangelista] It was very difficult to make that video.

It all fell apart.

Not for any of George's reasons.

It just fell apart.

And he saved it.

[George Michael] Linda bless her heart came back again.

We got a bit drunk. I won't say any more about that.

It's a stupid, stupid song.

That would look great on me.

I think George should definitely wear this.

So I realized at that point

that if a hit record was not going to reinstate

any kind of relationship with Sony then nothing was.

I don't want to pick a fight.

I just wanted to work with people who wanted to work with me.

And who would have some respect for the fact that

I was growing up.

It was deeply, deeply troubling times.

Because you could see this, it's like trying to watch a,

a train wreck in slow motion

and there's nothing you could do to stop it.

[George Michael] Anselmo and I were in LA when um,

he was advised to go for his test.

He hadn't been tested for a while and he was absolutely healthy looking.

More than healthy looking when I first met him.

Within a month or two of meeting him,

um, he had a, a flu that he couldn't get rid of.

And some red marks that came up on his chest.

And I remember a kind of terror of...

me understanding that this was possibly the beginning of,

you know an illness.

I remember him leaving the house and um,

to this day I remember

looking at the sky and saying,

"Don't you dare to this to me."

I mean I was twenty seven going on twenty eight,

but at that point in time you think like that's

a life time to have waited to be loved.

Anselmo had the test...

in Brazil.

I went home to,

to my family for Christmas

and sat at the Christmas table

not knowing whether my partner who might,

the people sitting around the table did not know about,

not knowing whether this man that I was in love with was, was terminally ill.

And therefore not knowing whether I potentially was terminally ill.

That Christmas was probably the darkest,

darkest most frightening, um,

time in my life.

I remember my publicist calling me to tell me...

that Freddie Mercury had died.

And he died of HIV obviously.

And I remember I was,

I was crying and you know,

you just thought. I mean bless him I,

I was really sad

that Freddie had passed away,

but of course I was crying about something else entirely.

Which was the fact that both my partner and possibly myself were HIV.

[David Austin] It was an incredibly difficult period

for George because it was something that

he had to hold close to his chest.

[George Michael] I was just absolutely devastated

to find out that he had a terminal illness.

I was just devastated.

["Someone To Love" playing]

♪ Ooh, each morning I get up I die ♪

♪ Can barely stand on my feet ♪

♪ Take a look in the mirror and I cry ♪

♪ Lord what you're doing to me ♪

♪ I have spent all my years in believing you ♪

♪ But I just can't get no relief ♪

♪ Lord! ♪

♪ Ooh somebody ♪

♪ Can anybody find me ♪

♪ Somebody to love? ♪

[George Michael] Even by the time Freddie's tribute had been put together

I was still sworn to secrecy.

♪ Got no feel, I got no rhythm ♪

♪ I just keep losing my beat ♪

[George Michael] I'm very proud of that performance but, Anselmo was in the crowd.

And I went out there knowing I had to honor Freddie Mercury

and I had to pray for Anselmo.

♪ someday I'm gonna be free ♪

♪ Lord! ♪

[drums beating]

♪ Find me somebody to love ♪

♪ Find me somebody to love ♪

♪ Find me somebody to love ♪

And I just wanted to die inside.

So it was so much to me all in that one performance.

♪ Find me somebody to love ♪

♪ Anybody find me ♪

♪ Somebody to ♪

Come on!

♪ Love! ♪

[audience cheers]

Yeah!

♪ Find me somebody to love ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Somebody to love ♪

♪ Find me somebody ♪

♪ Somebody to love... ♪

I was so overwhelmed by the sadness

of singing the songs of this man

that I absolutely worshipped as a child,

who has passed away in the same manner that my first

live in partner was going to experience.

It was just overwhelming for me.

♪ Love! ♪

[George Michael] It's not an accident

that the performance probably most well known

in my career...

was sung...

to my lover...

who was dying.

He was the reason that I had the strength to go to battle with Sony.

I saw it as,

if I'm going to do nothing but love this man and care for this man,

if I could do nothing beneficial as a musician,

because I cannot even think of a note,

maybe I have a chance to do something truly special

and change the standard record contract forever.

[Paul Russell] I didn't think

that it would end up in court at the time.

Because I really thought that sanity would prevail.

Well, I was wrong.

It didn't.

Our relationship broke down because they said,

"No, you are this kind of artist.

This is the kind of artist we sell.

This is the kind of artist we know how to sell.

And if you don't want to sell yourself that way

and you want to go off on this journey and find

this other audience, we're not going to support you."

The relationship had completely disintegrated.

George flew out to New York with his publisher.

And basically it was at that meeting that George told

the head people at Sony that he wanted out of the deal.

Wanted a divorce.

What he was basically saying is,

how can I stay with a company

who won't support me in any way

when I feel so strongly.

We issued a writ three days later.

[George Michael] I will never know if...

Sony and I would have ended up in court

had Anselmo not become ill.

I was absolutely terrified of losing him.

And the prospect of watching him die of AIDS.

I was in LA and, um, the phone rang

and was told that Anselmo's best friend in Brazil was on the phone.

And, [gasps]

then it all goes blurry for a long time.

[George Michael] He still 23 years later

brings a tear to my eye.

He was, he was my savior.

It's still very hard for me to explain

how finding a companion at that stage in my life

changed me.

And such a beautiful companion. Such an amazing person.

I think to some degree the Sony court case

was a perfectly good place to put my anger.

I used to go and run on the treadmill every day.

And play squash.

And do everything I could to get rid of all this anger and fear.

But the best place for it was court number one really.

[cameras clicking]

There was the part of my personality that could say,

"Okay, fuck this."

This can't all be bad.

I've got to do something good with this time in my life.

And change the path of artists' lives.

One of Britain's most successful pop singers,

George Michael, is today asking a high court judge

to declare his recording contract null and void.

He says the contract with Sony music is too restrictive

and that the company takes too much of the profits.

[Reporter] George Michael's counsel told the court

that this case is not about money.

While crown QC argues that his client's contract is in restraint of trade.

He stressed what he called it's unreasonable length

perhaps 12-15 years

and he says it's drafted in Sony's favor.

For the music industry, this case could mean a dramatic shift

in power towards major artists.

[indistinct chatter]

Very, very good.

[Reporter] What is it going to mean for the record industry?

This was a world-wide...

major artist saying to a record company,

that the basic contract which record companies used

was invalid.

[George Michael] If you really fall out

with the people who control your professional life,

you have a right to walk away.

I think that is the right of every individual.

And the music industry takes away that right

from every artist it signs.

George is very, very brave. He's not afraid of anybody.

Um, and he thought he was being wronged

and he went out and fought his own corner.

What we couldn't do was stand up and say,

"Yeah, you're right."

These contracts are slavery and they shouldn't be allowed,

Your honor.

[laughs] We weren't going to do that.

You'd have artist after artist

queuing up to take their record company to court.

[George Michael] I can't think of one artist that supported me.

I know of a lot of artists who sat back and waited for the results.

But that's a different thing.

[Andy Stephens] Artists like George Michael

come along if you're lucky,

once in a lifetime.

My feelings as the court case went on were that we'd lost him.

How could you ever patch that up?

I'd never let on to George

of problems until after he'd been in the witness box.

And I said, "It's not going well.

And you know, you shouldn't raise your hopes at this stage."

[BBC News intro music plays]

The pop star George Michael loses his high court battle

to break away from his record company Sony.

In dismissing the claim the judge, Mr. Justice Parker,

ruled that the contract was both reasonable and fair.

The 30 year old singer had argued that the agreement

was stifling his artistic development

and he threatened to never record for Sony again if he lost.

George Michael says he'll appeal against the judgment

which he said condemned him to professional slavery.

Having received this judgment,

I would like to reiterate

the reasons why I embarked upon these proceedings.

I have no right to resign.

In fact there is no such thing

as resignation for an artist in the music industry.

Effectively,

you sign a piece of paper at the beginning of your career

and you're expected to live with the decision,

good or bad,

for the rest of your professional life.

I shall obviously take full advice from my lawyers,

but the initial view is that we have very strong grounds

for appeal and we hope to have the appeal heard as quickly as possible.

Thank you very much for your time and for all the support

that I've received since this action began.

Thank you.

[Reporter] George will you sing for Sony again?

[George Michael] After the court case was finished

and I'd lost, and not just lost,

I, I lost completely. I mean I lost on everything.

Every count.

They then called up and you know kind of said

"Well there's, can't we patch things up," kind of thing.

But I knew in reality that was like a formality.

They had to do that.

Um, but ultimately, the whole thing was a complete waste of time.

And I regret it to this day.

[Paul Russell] Looking back on it now, 25 years on,

my first thought is that I think it's sad.

When you win a court case you're normally out there high fiving and putting the drinks in.

But I don't think anyone felt,

not in my team anyway, any sense of euphoria.

Certainly there were no winners.

I mean, we, we won the court case.

But we didn't win anything.

You've actually lost,

because you've lost the support of that artist.

George had said in passing David Frost wants

to do an interview with me.

And I said, "You've got to do it."

They know you're a man of principle.

Now, you've got to be a man of principle who's totally obsessed.

Ahh, well,

what's happens now, is that we go to appeal.

I can't see any other way round it.

I mean, of course there is the ultimate option

and appeal at the House of Lords which would take forever.

Oh, it was all bluff.

I mean, they intended to take it to the um,

Court of Appeal in the UK.

Never to the House of Lords,

never to the European Court of Justice.

They can only lose by going to appeal.

Everybody was watching, um,

including David Geffen.

No one's going to let a talent like that flounder out there for very long.

[David Austin] So David Geffen contacts Sony

and said to them,

"Listen guys,

he's never ever going to make another piece of music for you ever."

You might as well let him go.

[George Michael] I flew to New York,

had a very quick meeting there, where basically you know,

we're agreeing that the contract would be sold.

I was like, in 7th heaven.

[Tony Russell] Sony said, "We want this transfer fee and

it would have bought you a top class footballer."

In fact it might have bought you Lionel Messey in those days.

[Paul Russell] In the end,

he did whatever he did with David Geffen and Virgin.

And basically bought himself out of the contract.

Was it a good decision in hindsight of history?

I'm not sure.

George unquestionably lost the battle but won the war,

because he got a freedom that he craved for.

'Cause he felt he had to get away.

Peace to George Michael.

[audience cheers]

[George Michael] I think the whole experience of losing Anselmo,

the period of grief,

roughly two years that I didn't write a note of music.

And then, the absolute knowledge

that the next album I was going to write would be about grief and recovery.

Older is my greatest moment.

♪ Kindness ♪

♪ In your eyes ♪

♪ I guess ♪

♪ You heard me cry ♪

♪ You smiled at me ♪

♪ Like Jesus to a child ♪

[George Michael] I sat at a keyboard,

played a very simple string part.

Stream of consciousness rubbish comes out my head,

just rubbish.

And then I sang Like Jesus to a Child.

And I thought,

"Oh My God, that's him."

That's him and me.

Like Jesus to a child.

♪ When you find your love ♪

♪ When you know that it exists ♪

And I was so excited that I finally

been able to put my feelings about Anselmo into words.

And within a week of writing it,

I was singing it in front of the Brandenburg Gate

paying my first kind of public tribute to him there.

♪ When you've been loved ♪

♪ So I know just what love is ♪

♪ And the lover that I kissed ♪

♪ He's always by my side ♪

♪ Oh the lover I still missed ♪

♪ Was Jesus ♪

♪ To a child ♪

[Stevie Wonder] I just celebrate people

who are able to use their joys and their pains

to really help people to heal.

[George Michael] I think I wrote the best,

most healing piece of music.

It was all systems go from that point on.

♪ In the absence of security ♪

♪ I made my way into the night ♪

♪ Stupid Cupid keeps on calling me ♪

♪ And I see lovin' in his eyes ♪

♪ I miss my baby ♪

[George Michael] For anyone who had a clue

about any kind of symbolism,

I was coming out.

And you know Fast Love makes me laugh

because it's all about cruising and covering my pain.

Blunting out that, that pain with fast love.

Simple as that.

♪ I do believe that we are practicing the same religion ♪

There's not one track on that album

that is not about Anselmo,

about the risk of AIDS,

which was Spinning The Wheel.

♪ Spinning that wheel for me ♪

♪ You've got a thing about danger ♪

♪ Ain't you getting what you want from me ♪

♪ Ain't you getting what you want from me ♪

♪ You've got a thing about strangers ♪

♪ Baby that's what we used to be ♪

♪ Baby that's what we used to be ♪

♪ You've got a thing about danger baby ♪

♪ I guess the hungry just can't see ♪

♪ One of these days You're gonna bring some home to me ♪

[George Michael] I believe I was destined to feel that particular pain

so that I could do the ultimate with my music in terms of healing.

And the number of people who come up to me and say,

"Oh you don't know how much you helped me

with Older when I lost this person

or when I lost that person.

♪ Time and I need you... ♪

And the winner of the best Male Solo Artist is...

George Michael.

[crowd cheers]

Now unfortunately...

George cannot be here tonight

but I,

I have a message from him and I'm going to read it out

and it says, "To everybody here

and everybody watching at home,

I would like to apologize for not attending tonight's awards show.

I genuinely would have loved to have been there to say a huge thank you."

I had about 6 months period where things were okay

and I was recording Older.

Then I found out my mother had cancer.

[classical music playing]

I was so spiritually crushed after Mum died.

So crushed and so felt so bloody picked on by the Gods, you know.

For all my adult life she was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.

A terrible horrible loss.

From the day I found about my partner,

to the day that I could say

I actually felt on the mend from my mother

was just constant fear.

Was either fear of death or,

or fear of the next bereavement you know.

And uh, I just took it very, very badly.

Very badly indeed.

I'd never felt um,

that kind of depression.

I, it was something different to grief.

It was on top of grief because I was grieving for my mother still

but it was something else. It was um,

I felt like a sportsman

that, that had a terrible injury

in the middle of an incredibly successful career.

I'm so, so much more aware

of how intrinsic to my entire being

it is to be able to create music.

Having lost it for, for 3 or 4 years of my life,

I really did, I lost the music at the center of me.

Which was like losing God for me. It really was.

It was the darkest, darkest time.

But even when I've lost control,

Even when I really hit rock bottom,

I believe that the red line is still there,

[Tracye Emin] There's a part of George that is really private.

His inner soul is quite private,

there's a space for him. And I think that's why,

you know his writing, his music,

his performing,

all of that is this big external thing,

But all of that comes from some really private internal place.

I think if George wasn't like superstar musician,

he'd be an accountant that writes poetry every night.

Do you know what I mean?

[George Michael] I'd just like to say very genuinely, um,

I'm really touched by this um,

the first half of the 90's was pretty crap for me

and uh,

1996 has kind of made it all worthwhile.

Thank you very much.

[Stevie Wonder] It always feels better when you're able to,

you know, to be yourself.

To just be you.

And um,

being you means you know,

not being afraid or ashamed

of um, sharing the gift that you've been given.

One, two, three, yeah!

♪ Star people ♪

♪ Counting your money till you soul turns green ♪

George's authentic and there aren't that many authentic artists around.

[Tracey Emin] His real, he's not mass produced.

He isn't owned, he isn't, he isn't bossed around by anybody.

He's never been bossed around by record companies.

He's done exactly what he's wanted to do.

You know and everyone had this, had this go at him about him

'cause he didn't come out when he was 18.

Loads of people didn't come out when they were 18.

Especially when they'd just been signed up by a fucking giant record label.

But boy did he come out later in a big way.

♪ And yes I've been bad ♪

♪ Doctor won't you do with me... ♪

When he came out I wanted to go George, you don't need, what'd... we know.

[laughs]

Don't make a song and dance about it.

And he did, he did a song about it didn't he?

He did a whole song and dance about it.

♪ I never really said it ♪

♪ Before ♪

[Ricky Gervais] He's fearless.

He disarms the press.

'Cause they think they've got him, they say, "Awww you did this."

and he goes, "Yep...

and?"

And when they went...

Argh you're gay, he went yeah, sorry I didn't call you,

you know what I mean?

He didn't call everyone, listen...

I think people genuinely adore George.

Not just the music.

Er, but they feel for him and his struggle.

He's a villain.

George Michael is probably my favorite singing convict.

Bless him. He did his time.

We're all imperfect.

And we've all made mistakes.

George has made his mistakes sometimes publicly.

But people are willing to forget because underneath

I know for a fact that George is one of the most kindest,

most generous people I've ever met in my life.

♪ I'm your man! ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

His music feels like feeling

or moments in your life that are personal to you.

Someone saying the very same thing that you felt.

♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪

♪ Do it with me ♪

♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪

[James Corden] It feels like he just puts his arm around you

and says you're not on your own.

It's just such a journey.

He's just taken us on a journey with him.

♪ Baby ♪

♪ I'm your man! ♪

I love it!

♪ Baby ♪

♪ I'm your man! ♪

♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right - right? ♪

[James Corden] Without that sketch I wouldn't have a

successful show in America.

Because there was something so joyful about it.

There was something so brilliant about being with him

that made us go oh,

I wonder if we could do that with other artists.

[Ricky Gervais] In Extras, George played George Michael

on Hampstead Heath looking for fun.

I've only got 20 minutes actually, I'm on my lunch break.

He just nailed it.

He, he gave us that sort of decadent,

almost bored rock star.

Lunch break.

Yeah, I'm doing community service.

Are you still doing that?

Oh no, not that one, I'm doing another now,

I'm picking up litter now.

Oh right, what'd you do wrong this time?

Fly tipping believe it or not.

It was great. It was really, really great.

I was, I, I was really,

really knocked out at how good an actor he was.

Um, and such a sport.

Well, I better get going, 'cause you know,

I'm going to have to go back to work soon so.

C'mon then you, I'll give you a quickie.

I'm not that desperate matey

Cheeky bastard.

♪ I'll be your sexual freak ♪

[Ricky Gervais] I think he's challenged the stereo type

of the gay man as well

and what was acceptable.

Because you know, it,

it even though people were out in the 60s and 70s

they were safe sexless gay men,

whereas George went I've got a cock.

That, that, that

frightened some people.

Yeah, literally I imagine.

That's something about George he's really sexy,

you know, really sexy.

And living with that,

good looking, sexy, talented,

you know. It's tough out there.

[laughs]

He's very hairy isn't he?

[laughs]

♪ Tell it to me, to me, to me ♪

♪ I know that you'll hold me ♪

♪ But there's something about that Bush ain't right.

[laugh]

[Elton John] There's so many different facets to George.

And you can see him growing as an artist

and moving away from the original stuff into more,

beautiful kind of Edith Piaf, Frank Sinatra territory,

but it's George.

["How Do You Keep The Music" Playing]

♪ How do you keep the music playing? ♪

♪ That I feel for her ♪

[Tony Bennett] I just loved that he was very friendly,

we got along great.

He just walked in very prepared.

And he was so spontaneous,

he did it in one take.

I couldn't believe how,

how equipped he was.

And I remember saying,

"Boy, this guy is going to be around a long time."

♪ Forever ♪

[George Michael] I really am not in the business of

selling myself anymore.

When I do it, I want to do it properly.

♪ She takes the back road and the lane ♪

♪ Past the school that has not changed ♪

♪ In all this time ♪

When he does up tempo, it's full of joy.

And when he does sorrow, which is the true mark of a great singer,

you can hear the pain and everything.

He's a brilliant singer of lyrics.

It's an extraordinary talent to have.

♪ Just to give him life ♪

♪ That man ♪

♪ She loved that man ♪

♪ For all his life ♪

I absolutely definitely know that George Michael

fits into the category of a great artist, a great performer.

♪ And the rosebuds know to bloom in early may ♪

♪ Now I know deep... ♪

You hear pain, you hear joy.

You can hear everything in George Michael.

♪ And I'll be loving you always ♪

♪ Until the rainbow burns the stars out of the sky ♪

[Stevie Wonder] Mary J Blige and George Michael doing As was amazing.

The marriage of the two of them was just a magical, um

experience of that song.

And I was in awe when I heard it.

♪ I'll be loving you ♪

I know him as an extremely gifted artist

and I embrace the records

that he made with Aretha and Whitney.

Probably my two greatest vocalists.

♪ If we take this chance ♪

♪ Next thing to each other romance ♪

[James Corden] You wanna watch him, you're interested in him,

you wanna listen to him. You want to know what he's got to say.

The impact that's he's had,

you have to see when you go to his concerts.

You have to really see it.

It is phenomenal.

So would you like one more song?

The word I think I'm hearing the most is...

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ You've gotta give for what you take ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

[Mark Ronson] You play somebody a record like Freedom.

That music is gonna

continue to mean something to people like,

as long as it's heard.

♪ Freedom! ♪

And that's why you get to have a three decade career.

♪ All we have to do now ♪

♪ Is take these lies ♪

♪ And make them true ♪

♪ Somehow ♪

♪ All we have to see ♪

♪ Is that I don't belong to you ♪

♪ And you don't belong to me, ♪

♪ Yeah yeah ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ You've gotta give for what you take ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ Freedom! ♪

♪ You've gotta give for what you take ♪

♪ You've gotta give for what you take ♪

♪ May not be what you want from me ♪

[soft music plays]

[Jim Forbes] What would you be hoping for as a way to be remembered?

You mean what would I like written on my...

[Jim Forbes] No, let's not go that far.

- Okay. - [Jim Forbes] But I mean

what would you hope the legacy that's attached to your name is?

Great songwriter, you know,

and um.

I think two things, one...

you know, great singer songwriter from a period of time

which I don't think would be, um,

we'll be seeing again. You know, I don't think youth culture

will produce people like myself and Madonna

and Prince. I don't think it's going to do that anymore.

Um, I think it's too fragmented now.

So I'd like to be remembered as one of those last kind of big stars

in the sense that

there was a certain glamour to it.

But really it's just the songs.

And I hope that people think of me as someone who had some kind of integrity.

I hope I'm remembered for that.

Very unlikely.

Things would've been a waste of time,

[laughs] waste of effort.

["A Different Corner" playing]

♪ I'd say love was a magical thing ♪

♪ I'd say love would keep us from pain ♪

♪ Had I been there ♪

♪ Had I been there ♪

♪ I would promise you all of my life ♪

♪ But to lose you would cut like a knife ♪

♪ So I don't dare ♪

♪ No, I don't dare ♪

♪ 'Cause I've never come close ♪

♪ In all of these years ♪

♪ You are the only one to stop my tears ♪

♪ And I'm so scared ♪

♪ I'm so scared ♪

♪ Take me back in time maybe I can forget ♪

♪ Turn a different corner ♪

♪ And we never would have met ♪

♪ Would you care? ♪

♪ Oh, I don't understand it

♪ For you it's a breeze ♪

♪ Little by little ♪

♪ You've brought me ♪

♪ To my knees ♪

♪ Don't you care? ♪

♪ No, I've never come close ♪

♪ In all of these years ♪

♪ You are the only one to stop my tears ♪

♪ I'm so scared ♪

♪ Of this love ♪

♪ And if all that there is ♪

♪ Is this fear of being used ♪

♪ I should go back to being lonely ♪

♪ And confused ♪

♪ If I could ♪

♪ I would ♪

♪ I swear ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ I swear ♪

♪ If I could ♪

♪ I would ♪

♪ I swear ♪