(Newswire.net — December 26, 2016) — “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period. The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage,” his publicist announced in the statement published on Christmas Day, at 1.42pm.
George Michael died from heart failure at the age of 53.
In 2011, the singer was diagnosed with severe pneumonia. He had been treated at the Vienna General Hospital in Austria. Upon his return to London, while holding a speech to the media in front of his home, he became very emotional and had difficulties breathing. During his speech, he also mentioned that he had undergone a tracheotomy.
On May 16, 2013, George Michael sustained a head injury when he fell out of his moving car on a motorway near St Albans in Hertfordshire. He was airlifted to the hospital.
It is not a secret that the singer suffered from drug addiction and alcohol abuse.
He passed away in the same year when the world lost Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and Prince.
George Michael was a singer, songwriter and record producer whose rise to fame came through the music duo Wham!, which he formed together with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981.
His biggest hits at that time were “Club Tropicana”, “Wake me up before you go-go”, “Last Christmas”, “Freedom”, “Father Figure”, “I want your sex”, “Faith”, “Jesus to a child”, among many others.
The British singer won two Grammy awards and sold more than one hundred million records worldwide. His 1987 debut solo album, Faith, sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. His career lasted for four decades, but his life in recent years has been filled with controversy.
He ranks among the best-selling British acts of all time, with Billboard magazine ranking him the 40th-most successful artist to have ever lived.
He was born on June 25th, 1963, in East Finchley, London, as Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. His father was a restaurateur from Greece, and his mother was an English dancer. He had two sisters.