Jimmy Webb, Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, has announced the slate of 2012 nominees for induction. The organization, which is dedicated to recognizing the work and lives of those composers and lyricists who create popular music around the world, holds annual elections to determine those who will make up the roster of inductees for the following year. Eligible voting members will have until December 12th, 2011 to turn in ballots with their choices of two nominees from a non-performer and two from a performer category. For information with which to register or renew as a voting member before November 18th in order to participate in this election, please go to songhall.org.

George Michael’s competition includes Elvis Costello, Dion DiMucci, Blondie’s Deborah Harry and Chris Stein, Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens), Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, Gordon Lightfoot, Steve Miller, Lou Reed, the Bob Seger, Who’s Pete Townshend and Tom Waits.

The 2012 Annual Awards Gala will take place at the New York Marriott Marquis on Thursday, June 14th.

You can read more at Songwriters Hall Of Fame 2012 Nominees For Induction Announced!

George Michael has been confirmed as a performer for Keep a Child Alive: Black Ball London on June 15th. Keep a Child Alive is dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India by directly engaging the global public in the fight against AIDS. (Thanks, Lizzy!)

In case you missed it, here is George Michael’s interview with Piers Morgan regarding “You and I.”

George Michael premieres his new song, a charity gift for the Kate and William’s wedding, on Piers Morgan Tonight at 9 p.m. ET.   You will be able to listen to it after on PiersMorganTonight.com.

George said on Twitter: “Im REALLY happy with it… and I know Diana would have approved. She had a copy of Older 4 months before any of you lot!”

Update: The song is now available at http://www.georgemichael.com/gift/

In honor of the royal wedding, George Michael will be releasing a song on Twitter. He will be working on the track on Tuesday and will release it on Friday as a “twitterhug.” The only hints he’s given as to the name of the song are that it starts with “You” and “It was written in the seventies by a genius…..”

You can view the video for “True Faith” at YouTube.

You can view George Michael’s skit at Comic Relief also on YouTube.

GeorgeMichael.com has a three-minute clip of “True Faith.”

Also, The Chris Evans Breakfast Show website at BBC.co.uk has George’s interview from today.  Part two of the interview will air tomorrow.

Radio Creme Brulee is currently playing “Love’s in Need of Love Today” on high-rotation in celebration of the remastered version of Faith.

You can vote for the song by clicking on the “thumbs up” icon next to the song on the online radio player when it gets played.

According to George Michael covers New Order for Comic Relief:

Former New Order bassist Peter Hook told the BBC Michael’s version was a “beautiful” interpretation but admitted it was “not exactly to my taste”.

According to Hook, the band became friends with the former Wham! singer in the 1980s when they would attend the same parties in the US.

“It’s a very, very George Michael interpretation of the song and it’s beautiful for that,” he said.

“It’s very flattering. George doing True Faith is such a great compliment.

“It blew me away when I heard it. Not exactly to my taste, but it did blow me away.

“I think he’s done a fantastic version and I’m delighted that it’s for such a good cause.”

George Michael will be releasing a new single in March, “True Faith,” which was a hit for New Order in 1987.  He will be donating all money to Comic Relief.

The single will be available for download on March 13 and in stores on March 14. The single is available for pre-order on Amazon U.S. and Amazon U.K.

Comic Relief spends all the money raised by the public to give extremely poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa a helping hand to turn their lives around.

GeorgeMichael.com is giving away 10 copies of the Limited Edition Numbered Collectors Box Set of Faith.  Simply become a follower of http://twitter.com/georgemofficial and retweet “I GOTTA HAVE FAITH” starting at noon GMT on January 31, 2011. Winners will be randomly selected by the GeorgeMichael.com team every hour, on the hour, for 10 hours.

I’m publishing a series of articles on Faith Remastered based on some information I recently received. Obviously, the die-hard fans have already placed their orders. This information is for those who haven’t even heard about Faith remastered.

There are three options:

Faith: Deluxe Edition

The deluxe edition is a limited edition, numbered box set presented in black-and-gold-foiled slipcase, with:

• CD of remastered 10-song album. (See below for song list.)
• CD of remastered 7-inch and 12-inch singles and B-sides. (See below for song list.)
• 180-gram vinyl replica LP.
• DVD with BBC interview, original EPK, and 7 promo videos (approx. 100 mins.)
• 60-page hardbound book with interview, rare photos and memorabilia.
• Memorabilia envelope with 5 art prints, poster, tickets, and Faith tour pass.
• First 2,000 orders receive a specially-designed, numbered art print.

The deluxe edition is available only at GeorgeMichael.com. You can pre-order the deluxe edition now, and it will be shipped January 31, 2011. The cost is $141.57, plus shipping and handling.

Faith: Special Edition

The Faith special edition includes two CDs and a DVD.  The first CD is the remastered Faith, while the second CD has all the remastered 7-inch and 12-inch versions. This edition will be released February 1, 2011. The cost is currently $27.99, plus shipping.

CD One (Remastered Album):

1. Faith
2. Father Figure
3. I Want Your Sex (Parts 1 & 2)
4. One More Try
5. Hard Day
6. Hand To Mouth
7. Look At Your Hands
8. Monkey
9. Kissing A Fool
10. A Last Request (I Want Your Sex Part 3)

CD Two (remastered 7-inch and 12-inch versions / B-sides):

1. Faith (Instrumental) – B-side of 12-inch “Faith” single
2. Fantasy – B-side of “Waiting For That Day” single (all formats)
3. Hard Day (Shep Pettibone Mix) – From original CD album (also track 3 of “Faith” CD single)
4. I Believe When I Fall In Love – B-side of the 7-inch and cassette singles of “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”
5. Kissing A Fool (Instrumental) – B-side of 7-inch and 12-inch singles of “Kissing A Fool”
6. Love’s In Need Of Love Today (live recording) – B-side of 7-inch “Father Figure” single
7. Monkey – 7-inch edit
8. Monkey (A Capella & Beats) – A and B sides respectively of 7-inch “Monkey” single
9. Monkey (Jam & Lewis Remix) – 12-inch single

DVD (running time 110 minutes):

1. “George Michael & Jonathan Ross Have Words” (1987)
2. “Music Money Love Faith” (February 1988)
3. Seven promotional videos (re-synched with remastered audio):
   1. I Want Your Sex
   2. I Want Your Sex (Uncensored)
   3. Faith
   4. Father Figure
   5. One More Try
   6. Monkey
   7. Kissing A Fool.

Faith: 2-CD Remastered Edition

The Faith remastered edition includes two CDs. The first CD is the remastered Faith, while the second CD has all the remastered 7-inch and 12-inch versions. This edition will be released February 1, 2011. The cost is currently $13.85, plus shipping. The only difference with this version and the “special” version is that you don’t get the DVD.

From George Michael’s tell-all canned for being ‘too shocking’:

Jonathan Ross tipped the fallen star to return to the top of the charts after George played him and Cowell his post-prison tracks. ‘One of them, both me and Cowell, our ears went ‘‘boing’’ and Cowell said, ‘‘That’s a No.1.’’ It was very dancy and very electronic.

On the 27^th September 2010, Sony Music will be reissuing George Michael’s iconic album, Faith, now remastered. It will be available in multiple special formats including Limited Edition Numbered Collectors box set.

When George Michael released his debut solo album Faith in 1987 it instantly caught the imagination of the entire pop world, becoming a milestone in both George Michael’s career and in popular culture. It remains a high point in pop music, as well as a measure for any artist wanting to cross musical genres and gather both popular and critical appeal. 

The album confirmed George’s status as a songwriter of outstanding ability and emotional depth and it propelled him to superstar status equal to that of Elton John, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson and Madonna. After hitting the Number One spot in the UK, the USA and many other countries across the globe, Faith went on to sell over 20 million albums worldwide. It became the best selling US album of 1988 and was awarded the prestigious Diamond Award for sales of 10 million copies.

Faith rapidly became a record-breaking phenomenon, not only producing six Number One singles but also putting George Michael on the map as the first white male artist to hit Number One on the US R&B chart. Faith features some of George’s greatest songs including Father Figure, One More Try, Faith, Kissing A Fool and I Want Your Sex.

The album was written, produced and arranged entirely by George Michael. His artistry has resulted in countless accolades, including a Grammy for “Album of the Year” and three American Music Awards, namely: Favourite Album (Soul/R&B); Favourite Male Vocalist (Soul/R&B) and Favourite Male Vocalist (Pop/Rock). Additional tributes included an MTV Award for Father Figure” (Best Direction) and two Ivor Novello Awards for “Songwriter of the Year” and “International Hit of the Year”.

To date, George Michael has sold over 100 million records throughout the world; his music sounds as fresh as it did when Faith was first released in 1987. So much so, in fact, that George Michael’s songs – including tracks from Faith – recently featured in the hit US TV show Eli Stone. As well as appearing on the show himself, George’s songs were used as a theme for each episode. 

Today, George Michael continues to inspire young talent and his influence can be heard amongst many of today’s pop and R&B artists. The remastered, reissued Faith will not only delight George’s legions of fans across the world, but it will continue to influence a whole new generation of musicians. 

George Michael’s Faith will be reissued globally by Sony Music. The UK release date is the 27^th September.

For more information on George Michael please contact Connie Filippello Publicity on 0207 229 5400 or email Cfpublicity@aol.com

Track listing:

1. Faith
2. Father Figure
3. I Want Your Sex (Parts 1 & 2)
4. One More Try
5. Hard Day
6. Hand To Mouth
7. Look At Your Hands
8. Monkey
9. Kissing A Fool
10. A Last Request (I Want Your Sex Part 3)

All songs written, produced and arranged by George Michael with the exception of Look At Your Hands by George Michael and David Austin.

Here’s an interesting article on how Billboard considers George Michael’s solo #1 as different than his Wham! #1.

Billboard’s response:

“We decided to include all No. 1s for Paul McCartney under Wings since he charted titles under his name as both a solo act and under the Paul McCartney & Wings banner. How this is different than George Michael, in our opinion, is that McCartney was a known entity before forming Wings, and he was credited by name on the band’s earlier singles.

“George Michael was born out of Wham! To us, that was no different than merging Phil Collins’ history with Genesis or Rob Thomas’ history with Matchbox Twenty, which are classifications we do not make.”

Here is a fascinating article on “Last Christmas” and its longevity: Could “Last Christmas” Become the New “White Christmas”?

According to Stewart, after the post-WWII boom of classic Christmas songs died down, a new standard emerged every seven or eight years. He cited “Blue Christmas” and “Jingle Bell Rock” as early examples. The Donny Hathaway song “This Christmas” emerged from the ’70s (Mary J. Blige cites it as a favorite), as did John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”– which Alicia Keys and Tim McGraw performed today on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

Stewart said “Last Christmas” is the latest example of the trend — and, despite being 25 years old, perhaps the most recent, as the rock historian had trouble naming a song recorded after 1984 that’s developed the same traction on radio and with other recording artists.

Wayne sends us the live performance of George Michael singing “December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)” on X Factor.

Here are the recent articles on “December Song”:

• New George Michael Xmas Music EP: December Song
• MICHAEL’S CHRISTMAS SINGLE SELLS OUT