George Michael: Quietly charitable pop star even more inspiring than people thought
1984: English pop star and one half of the duo 'Wham', George Michael, arriving at Heathrow Airport. London, England.
The late British musician, who was found dead in his bed on Christmas day, spent years anonymously doing wonderful things for people
George Michael's death has been uniquely agonising in a year filled with a shocking amount ofdying mega stars. At one time the biggest pop star in Britain, Michaelsold more than 100 million records in his career. But he hada personal connection with manyfans that stemmed from morethan just music.
Michael is remembered and appreciated today for representing the LGBT community in the 80's and 90's, when doing so was much less fashionable and acceptable than it is today. He made countless people feel better about themselves in ways most of us will never understand.
Tributes of this nature were numerous and very touchingthoughexpected, butthe world was taken by surprise asthe full extent of his generosity and charitable giving came to light. More, he went to considerable lengths to avoid receiving public credit.
The Independent reports that Michael anonymously paid 1.6 million pounds to purchase John Lennon's piano, so that it would be kept out of storage and be made available to the public. There are new stories of his intense altruism still being reported.
George Michael wrote upbeat party songs with a light fun touch, but was emotionally vulnerable, and gave badly-needed strength to many through his art.
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That he also gave away so much of his time and money, not to boost his image but purely tohelppeople, speaks to who he was as a person. People are right to be wary of celebrity culture, with their hollowimages contrived by PR consultants.
It's worth repeating that the celebrities we see on screens are total strangers to us, but it's impossible to read about whatMichael's art meant to so manyand all the things he did for peoplewithout feeling that this stranger was a very good person.
RIP, George Michael.
(WION)