Birth name: Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou
Date of birth: 25 June 1963
Place of birth: East Finchley, London
Career highlights: Best Album of 1988 Grammy for Faith, two Ivor Novello Awards for Songwriter of the Year and International Hit of the Year. He won the MTV International Viewers Choice Award 1996 and MTV Europe Awards Best British Male, also in 1996. Highest charting singles include: Careless Whisper, number one, 1984, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), number one 1987

After forming chart-topping teeny-bopper duo Wham! in 1981 with Andrew Ridgeley. George Michael left the group to go solo, and he went from strength to strength. Penning a duet with the queen of soul Aretha Franklin he proved he could be just as good alone, and achieved three number ones in a row straight after the split.

Careless Whisper, written when Michael was seventeen, became one of the most played songs of the 80s and was voted favourite record of all time by Londoners in January 1995 in a competition run by the capital's leading evening newspaper and radio station.

Saucy Michael made tabloid headlines in 1998 when he was caught “engaging in a lewd act” in an LA toilet. After being sentenced to 80 hours community service he made a video for his single Outside based on the incident. He was dressed up in PVC and other men wore policemen outfits and kissed. The policeman who had originally arrested him took offence, sued George for slander and received $10m compensation.