sad, was it aids related ?
'After years of refusing to be drawn on speculation about his sexuality, Michael disclosed he was homosexual in 1998 after being was arrested in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, California, for engaging in a lewd act.'
still a shame .... and he was still youngish too (I too am53 yrs old)
'he criticises Rupert Murdoch, he calls him "the devil"; when he falls out with his record company, he goes on strike; and when he finally tells the world about his sexuality in 1998, it is via a public toilet, humiliating arrest and the most conspicuous outing ever.
Let's not forget the music. Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou was born in 1963 to a Greek Cypriot restaurateur father and an English dancer mother. He grew up in north London, close to where he lives today. Michael emerged in 1982 as the sexier half of pop duo
Wham! – with big hair, fake tan, great loopy earrings and a
shuttlecock down his shorts, he had a sexuality that appealed equally to girls and boys. Wham! had a series of huge hits, including Club Tropicana, Young Guns (Go For It) and Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?), but by 1986 they had split up. And that should have been that. Only Michael went solo, and became even bigger. The cheesy, hedonistic disco morphed into melancholy smoocheramas (
Careless Whisper, his first solo hit, reached number one in 1984), soulful ballads (
Father Figure,
Jesus To A Child) and white funk classics (
Faith,
I Want Your Sex).
Even when he was struck by disaster, he turned it to his advantage. In 1998, he was arrested for "engaging in a lewd act" after a sting by the Beverly Hills cops, and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. It would have extinguished most careers, but Michael went on television, explained himself in a
brilliantly unapologetic TV interview, and wrote
Outside, a cheeky song about al fresco sex – "I'd service the community, but I already have"; the video featured urinals with silver disco balls and kissing policemen.'
It's still a shame though being not old and having passed-away, may his soul, rest in peace.