George Michael Experience: Fundraiser for Suicide Prevention

George Michael Experience

George Michael Experience: Fundraiser for Suicide Prevention is a 3-day event taking place at Newtopia Cyder Tasting Room in San Diego, California, on April 26, 27, and 28, 2024.

Day 1 of the event is today, April 26, 2024, from 3-9 p.m. This part of the event is free. According to the site:

3-6 PM: Free/casual private tours of a million-dollar George Michael memorabilia collection by Chris Brown. Uncover the stories behind the star and enjoy food all afternoon and night!
5:30 PM: Hear from Newtopia’s founder, Rick Moreno, collector, Chris Brown, and director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Jordan Miles, about the impact of your participation this weekend.
6 PM: Kick off the evening with George Michael & Wham! Music Bingo and continue the festivities with a dance party.

Day 2 of the event is tomorrow, April 27, 2024, from 12-10 p.m. This part of the event is free. According to the site:

12-4 PM: Explore George Michael’s iconic career with free hourly tours of our exclusive memorabilia collection guided by Chris Brown.
4 PM: Test your pop knowledge with our George Michael Trivia—win big with the correct answers! Grab your GM Trivia Sheet, enjoy classic tunes, and try your luck.
5 PM: Flashback to the ’80s with our COSTUME CONTEST! Dress to impress and win prizes for the Best Couple and two standout individuals. Prizes announced at 8:30 PM. Don’t forget to tag @newtopiacyder on Instagram to win the social media star prize!

Day 3 includes a George Michael themed brunch. According to the site:

Brunch Package: $25
Choose 1 Plate & 1 Drink
Chilaquiles (Birria, Chicken, Mole, or Carnitas), Tacos (Birria, Chicken, Mole, or Carnitas), and Ceviche (Red Snapper, Wild Shrimp, or Vegan Ceviche)
Drink includes your choice of one of our 3 specialty George Michael cyders, any craft cyder on tap, house-made sangria, craft cocktails on tap, or a Sky High n’ Dry mimosa!
Proceeds go towards the San Diego Prosperity Foundation benefiting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The San Diego Union-Tribune also has an article about the event with more details about the items on display, such as:

  • the leather jacket that George Michael wore during the closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics in London.
  • the American Music Award from 1989 for best male pop artist.
  • a program from the recital that he did at the school where he met Andrew Ridgeley.
  • an original letter from George Michael in his own handwriting on the breakup of Wham!
  • George Michael’s Ivor Novello Award from 1984 for “Careless Whisper.”

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Fantastic and Make It Big Vinyl Release Today

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Wham!’s Fantastic (sponsored link) and Make It Big (sponsored link) are being rereleased on vinyl today.

Check out our previous post with all the information on these vinyl rereleases.

The Official Wham! Facebook page is celebrating with the following videos:

Will you be buying Fantastic or Make It Big on vinyl? Let us know in the comments!

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Vote for George Michael Top 10 Placement

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If we want George Michael to have more songs in the Top 10 of Smooth’s All Time Top 500, then we should focus on voting for the songs that did well in 2023.

Here are the George Michael or Wham! songs that did well in 2023 in the Top 200:

  • “Careless Whisper” #1
  • “A Different Corner” #3
  • “Jesus to a Child” #11
  • “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” #17
  • “Father Figure” #26
  • “One More Try” #56
  • “Praying for Time” #64
  • “Faith” #72
  • “Kissing a Fool” #76
  • “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” #80
  • “Somebody to Love” #82
  • “FastLove” #95
  • “Everything She Wants” #125
  • “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” #136
  • “Club Tropicana” #145
  • “Freedom 90” #160

It’s probably best to focus on the ten songs that did the best if we want George to have 3 or more songs in the Top 10. “Jesus to a Child” was close to being in the Top 10 last year. Possibly we should team up with the Elton John and Aretha Franklin fans to get more votes for the duets.

You can pick up to 10 George Michael songs in order of preference, choosing your number 1 song first. You can vote here.

Smooth’s All Time Top 500 will be counted down from Friday, May 3rd, at 10 a.m. to Monday, May 6th, at 7p.m.

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Vote for George Michael in Top 500

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Voting for George Michael songs in Smooth’s All Time Top 500 is open for 2024.

George Michael has topped the Top 500 for six consecutive years with “Careless Whisper.” Last year, he even came in third place with “A Different Corner.” George Michael also had “Jesus to a Child” at number 11 and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” at number 17. He had 20 songs in the chart overall.

You can pick up to 10 George Michael songs in order of preference, choosing your number 1 song first. You can vote here.

Smooth’s All Time Top 500 will be counted down from Friday, May 3rd, at 10 a.m. to Monday, May 6th, at 7p.m.

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George Michael Nominated for Global Legend

George Michael has been nominated for the Global Awards 2024 in the Global Legend category.

Winners will be announced on-air on Global’s radio stations and on Global Player on Friday, March 22, 2024.

The Global Awards include all of Global’s radio stations: Capital, Heart, Smooth Radio, Classic FM, Radio X, Capital XTRA, Capital Dance, and Gold, as well as Global Player.

Other Global Legend Nominees are:

  • ABBA
  • Barry Manilow
  • Billy Joel
  • Bruce Springsteen
  • Cher
  • Dolly Parton
  • Elton John
  • Elvis
  • George Michael
  • Lionel Richie
  • Madonna
  • Michael Jackson
  • Queen
  • Rod Stewart
  • Take That
  • The Rolling Stones
  • Tina Turner

You can read more about the Global Awards here.

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George Michael News Mailing List

The George Michael News mailing list has changed to Follow.it.

Previously, subscribers received e-mail alerts to news from Feedburner/Google.

Feedburner closed, and we have moved all active subscribers over to Follow.it. If you no longer want to receive George Michael news in your mailbox, please unsubscribe.

Follow.it has additional features. For example, subscribers can now define filters and more delivery channels.

If you would like to join the George Michael news mailing list, following George Michael News is very easy.

Here is information on subscribing to our mailing list:

The Life and Music of George Michael Concerts

The Life and Music of George Michael is making its way across the United States in February and March. The show is a concert featuring one singer for the Wham! years and another singer for George Michael’s solo career.

You can find out more in the following clip.

You can find the list of tour dates here.

Are you going to see the Life and Music of George Michael? Tell us more about it in the comments.

George Michael Still Making It Big After Death

George Michael is still a successful businessman, even after his death.

According to The Sun, George Michael’s company, Nobby’s Hobbies Holdings, made £20.6million in publishing income, £2.5million in record royalties and an additional £600,000, from records ending in March 2023.

This revenue equates to £55,000 day.

George Michael’s New Video for Going to a Town

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George Michael has released a new video for his single, “Going to a Town” (Amazon Ad). Unlike the “Let Her Down Easy” video, the video for “Going to a Town” is concert footage from the Symphonica tour.

“Going to a Town” was originally written and recorded by Rufus Wainwright and featured on his 2007 album Release the Stars (Amazon Ad). It is the second song to be released from the successful Symphonica CD.

This article has been updated since it was originally published to include the following information.

George Michael talks about “Going to a Town” in the following interview:

The Guardian reviewed “Going to a Town” as:

The King, George Michael, has returned to us, this time in the form of a Rufus Wainwright cover. Going To A Town is a wistful, orchestral anti-American ballad, which manages to tread the fine line between movingly grandiose and enjoyably tacky. This being George, the video features a poorly animated burning crucifix, which turns into a poorly animated giant burning wooden “LOVE”. He continues to be our most ludicrous yet talented pop artist, and long may he reign.

The Guardian

Rufus Wainwright talks about George Michael in this extract from the new George Michael film, The Real George Michael – Portrait of an Artist (Amazon Ad).

@georgemichaelfilm Rufus Wainwright on a conversation with George Michael, extract from the new George Michael film ‘The Real George Michael – Portrait of an Artist’ now available on Amazon in thr USA as well as Peacock, Tubi, Plex, Roku & Xumo #georgemichael #rufuswainwright #carelesswhisper #gmlovelies #wham #georgemichaelfilm #80smusic #80s ♬ original sound – georgemichaelfilm

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George Michael Premieres Song for Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s Wedding

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George Michael premieres his new song, a charity gift for Catherine Middleton and Prince William’s wedding, on Piers Morgan Tonight at 9 p.m. ET.  

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

The Idea for the Song

Well, it’s actually very, very — well, the idea came to me last week, actually, about a week ago, that I should — that I should, perhaps, kind of express my happiness at this marriage in a way publicly. You know, it was a very beautiful summer — it wasn’t summer’s day. But it was an April day that happened to be like summer here in London.

And I was twittering and kind of got carried away and decided I was going to make them a new track. Give everybody on Twitter and William and Kate a new track by Friday. So, I’ve had a very busy week.

And the strange thing about this song, actually, considering I think it’s probably the best two days work I’ve ever done in my life, two or three days work, is that when I was a child, I dreamt of singing this song in my imagination. You know, my idea of fame at the time was the school assembly hall. I was about 12. And I had this record, this Stevie Wonder song. And I used to dream of singing it in school assembly hall. But I guess this is slightly bigger deal than that.

George Michael on CNN on April 15, 2011

The Song as a Gift to Catherine and William

So — and also the main thing about doing the song as a gift for them is not just a gift for them, it’s a gift that they will be able to hopefully turn into many, many donations for the royal charity, the royalweddingcharityfund.org that is, you know — which is where they asked people to give money rather than send presents of any description. I don’t know if that includes the people at the actual wedding, I don’t know if they’ve given out their toasters and their, you know, their – the wedding list, as it were, but seems very generously that they have, yes.

So, anyway, I would really like for any of my fans, or anybody who really enjoys this track, if they’re going to download it for free, which is absolutely what I’m willing to do, I would like them to go to Kate and William’s charity site and make a donation. You know, if they’re genuinely happy for these two people, which I think a lot of people are, you know?

George Michael on CNN on April 15, 2011

Message on William and Catherine’s Wedding Day

Oh, I think they should — I don’t think they need any advice from me. I think the message I would give — I’m just incredibly happy for both of them. And more than anything, you know, there was a kind of — I have quite an emotional attachment to what’s going on here because I felt so bad for those boys when she (Princess Diana) passed away, and having experienced losing my mother about three or four months before that, that day was very, very strange for me.

And also, you know, when I think of what — the devastation of losing my mother, the idea of going through that when you’re not into your teens or barely into your teens is just — I just — I can’t just — words can’t describe how much admiration I have for the way that they’ve both coped with it and especially when, you know, the media has made it so much more difficult for them. I’m just incredibly happy for — incredibly happy for William, incredibly happy for his partner, and I absolutely am sure that Diana would have loved the whole thing, you know?

And I really hope that she would have loved this track. I have a feeling, she would have done — she was a big fan and she had a copy of “Older,” which is obviously an album about bereavement, about four or five months before it went out into the public eye, and she loved it. And I did once see a documentary where William was playing that album which makes me think that he found it comforting. And it was an album about bereavement. So, I was very touched by that.

The whole thing has kind of different levels of meaning for me. And I’m just incredibly happy that they’re letting me actually, you know, have some part of the benefit site, the charity site, you know? Or at least they’re letting me share some of the attention for this amazing day in a way to raise money, you know, which is great.

George Michael on CNN on April 15, 2011

Don’t miss our previous article on “You and I,” which includes the song and lyrics.

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George Michael Gifts New Song for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Royal Wedding

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In honor of the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, George Michael will be releasing a song on Twitter to celebrate the occasion.

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…..”

This article has been updated to include the song that George Michael sang for William and Catherine’s wedding and the lyrics.

“You and I (We Can Conquer the World)” is a song written and sung by Stevie Wonder from his 1972 album Talking Book (sponsored link).

The lyrics for “You and I” are:

Don’t miss George Michael’s interview about the making of “You and I,” as well as his relationship with Princess Diana and Prince William.

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Eli Stone Returns this Summer

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ABC has announced that the remaining episodes of “Eli Stone” (Amazon Ad) will begin airing on Saturday, June 20, at 10 p.m. 

Eli Stone stars Jonny Lee Miller as a lawyer who begins to have hallucinations that lead him to a higher purpose. Episodes from the first season include George Michael songs, with occasional appearances of George Michael in a hallucination or as himself.

All titles of the first season are George Michael songs, including “Faith,” “Freedom,” “Father Figure,” “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “One More Try,” “Something to Say,” “Heal the Pain,” “Praying for Time,” “I Want Your Sex,” “Heartbeat,” “Patience,” “Waiting for that Day,” and “Soul Free.” Many of the musical numbers also include George Michael songs.

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