Discography
WHAM! FANTASTIC
December 1983
‘Fantastic’ is the debut studio album by pop duo Wham! (George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley). It reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. It includes singles “Young Guns”, “Wham! Rap (Enjoy What You Do?)”, “Bad Boys” and “Club Tropicana”.
WHAM! MAKE IT BIG
October 1984
‘Make It Big’ is Wham!’s second studio album. It was mostly recorded at Studio Miraval in Southern France and mixed at Good Earth Studios in London and Marcadet Studios in Paris.
The album was a critical and commercial success, hitting number one in both the UK and the US and spawning four singles, all topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The album features tracks “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, “Everything She Wants” and “Careless Whisper”, where George was credited for the first time as a solo artist.
WHAM! THE FINAL
May 1996
The Final is a compilation to summarise the career of British pop duo Wham!. A deluxe edition of the album was released on CD/DVD and download in November 2011, with the DVD featuring all of Wham!’s music videos, including the video for “Young Guns (Go for It!)”, “Last Christmas”, and a remix version of the video for “Everything She Wants”.
FAITH
October 1987
‘Faith’ was George’s debut solo studio album and the one written (except for his childhood friend David Austin’s sterling contribution to “Look At Your Hands”), produced and arranged by George himself. It’s the one which stayed atop the American charts for 12 weeks and the one which spawned four of his six number one US singles: “Faith” itself, “Father Figure”, “One More Try” and “Monkey”.
‘Faith’ sold over 10 million copies in the US alone (it’s found its way into almost 25 million homes worldwide), it transformed George Michael from global teen idol to global adult superstar and it paved the way for the extraordinary delights to come. ‘Faith’ made the Michael mantelpiece sag with awards: a Grammy for Album Of The Year; three American Music Awards (Favourite Album (Soul/R&B); Favourite Male Vocalist (Soul/R&B) and Favourite Male Vocalist (Pop/Rock), plus an MTV Award for “Father Figure” (Best Direction) and Ivor Novello Awards for Songwriter Of The Year and International Hit Of The Year.
LISTEN WITHOUT PREJUDICE VOL. 1
September 1990
‘Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1’ was George’s second solo album, released in September 1990. Arranged, produced and almost completely written by George himself, it eloquently confirmed him as a pioneering, agenda-setting artist. The title wasn’t a plea to listen to George without prejudice: he really wasn’t that self-absorbed. The mood was darker and more adult still, but that didn’t stop his British audience from sending it to Number 1 and the Americans to Number 2.
OLDER
May 1996
‘Older’ is George’s third studio album. “It’s my first completely honest album,” he explained. Musically adventurous and lyrically brave, it spawned a record six British Top 3 singles.
That year, he would win Best British Male at both the MTV Europe Awards and the BRITs; his third Ivor Novello Songwriter Of The Year Award and he would retain his Capital Radio’s Best Male Singer title. “Fast Love” would win the International Viewers’ Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards and ‘Older’ would spend 147 weeks in the British album charts, which, of course, it topped, as it did those in Austria, Australia, Norway, Netherlands and Sweden
The album was particularly notable for producing six top three UK hit singles in a two-year span. The album includes tracks such as “Fast Love”, “Jesus to a Child” and “Spinning the wheel”.
LADIES & GENTLEMEN: THE BEST OF GEORGE MICHAEL
November 1998
‘Ladies And Gentlemen, The Best Of George Michael’ was an album divided into two discs, ‘For The Heart’ (George’s ballads) and ‘For The Feet’ (George’s most popular dance tunes), it was partly a comprehensive career resume and partly a helpful corralling of some non-album gems.
Its three new tracks included “Outside” with its laugh-out-loud video, and a turbo-charged romp through Stevie Wonder’s glorious “As”, alongside the ever-splendid Mary J. Blige. The collection went 8X Platinum in Britain, a nation swooned at George’s droll performance on the chat show Parkinson and he topped Capitol FM’s Hall Of Fame for the eighth time, as well as the Norwegian charts.
SONGS FROM THE LAST CENTURY
December 1999
‘Songs from the Last Century’ is George’s fourth studio album; The George Michael covers album. A labour of love, it comprised George’s takes on some of his favourite songs, including Sting’s “Roxanne” and Passengers’ “Miss Sarajevo”, both of which were singles plus standards such as “Secret Love” and “You’ve Changed” and a radical re-imagining of Johnny Mathis, Nina Simone and David Bowie’s “Wild Is The Wind”. It went double platinum in the UK and Top 10 in Germany.
PATIENCE
March 2004
Patience is George’s fifth and final studio album. Patience spawned six singles. The first two, “Freeek!” and “Shoot the Dog”, were released in 2002. Patience debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became one of the fastest-selling albums; selling over 275,000 copies in the first week.
‘Patience’ also hurtled to Number 1 in Denmark, Germany, Poland and Sweden amongst many others. Having retreated from the American market since ‘Older’, George appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s show, invited her and her crew into his lovely home and performed “Amazing”, “Father Figure” and “Faith” for them. The album reached Number 12 there. George was back. He could hardly have been more back.
TWENTY FIVE
November 2006
‘Twenty Five’ is a greatest hits album by George. The album celebrated the 25th anniversary of his music career. Three new songs were released on the album including a duet with Paul McCartney on “Heal The Pain” from ‘Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1’. Naturally it was a British Number 1, a global Top 10 hit and there was a 40-song DVD too. If that wasn’t enough, George was also given the rare honour of a second South Bank Show to himself.
SYMPHONICA
March 2014
‘Symphonica’ is the only live album George released during his lifetime. George kicked off ‘Symphonica: The Orchestral Tour’ at Prague’s State Opera House on August 22, 2011. The set featured a selection of his own songs and covers alongside an orchestra and included shows all over Europe including the Royal Albert Hall to the delight of fans and critics alike. George’s vocals were recorded at the Royal Albert Hall during his ‘Symphonica Tour’ (2011–12), while the string arrangements were recorded in a studio.
The ‘Symphonica Tour’ finished in London in October 2012 and 2014 saw the release of ‘Symphonica’ the album. Produced by George and Phil Ramone, who had also co-produced ‘Songs From The Last Century’ and who died shortly after recording was completed, ‘Symphonica’ went straight to number one in the UK Album Charts as well as topping the iTunes charts in over 13 countries worldwide.
LISTEN WITHOUT PREJUDICE / MTV UNPLUGGED
October 2017
This album was a remaster of George’s second solo album in October 2017, and included a version of George’s stunning MTV Unplugged performance recorded at Three Mills Island Studios in East London on the 11th October, 1996.
THIS IS HOW (WE WANT YOU TO GET HIGH)
This Is How (We Want You to Get High), is co-written and co-produced by George Michael and collaborator James Jackman. The previously unreleased track, which was recorded during George’s final studio sessions, is his first original material to be shared for seven years.
A funky, upbeat soon-to-be-classic, This is How (We Want You to Get High) has a seductive George Michael hook and melody that will delight you all. The lyrics, written exclusively by George, see the star addressing society’s ills with his trademark blend of self-deprecation and wry humour.
WAZE & ODYSSEY, GEORGE MICHAEL, MARY J. BLIGE & TOMMY THEO – ALWAYS
‘Always’ is a monstrous piano house tune built around the iconic vocals from George Michael and Mary J. Blige’s 1999 cover of a Stevie Wonder classic.