George Michael

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, best known as George Michael, is a two-time Grammy Award winning English singer-songwriter who has had a career as half of the duo Wham! and also as a soul-influenced pop musician. He has sold over 85 million records worldwide, encompassing 12 British #1 singles, 9 British #1 albums, 10 US #1 singles, and 2 US #1 albums. His 1987 debut solo album, Faith, has sold over 20 million copies to date. George Michael has been one of the the most played pop artists on British radio over the past two decades.After performing 80 shows in 12 European countries for 1.3 million fans over the past year, George Michael will be bringing his 25 Live tour to North American Arenas in the summer of 2008 in support of his new retrospective album. This will be Michael's first North American tour in 17 years. The new album, titled Twenty Five, was released (in United States) on April 1st, 2008 and is a 29-song, 2-CD set featuring several new songs (including duets with Paul McCartney and Mary J. Blige and a song from the hit TV series, Eli Stone) in addition to many of Michael's hit songs from both his solo and Wham! career. In addition, a companion 2-disc DVD of 40 videos will also be made available. There are reports that George was so popular with his fans that they even named their children after him. There is one account in Southampton, England where a Clive Betteridge named his son George-Michael Betteridge.