George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. Michael was known as a creative force in songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.

Born in East Finchley, Middlesex, Michael rose to fame after forming the pop duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. He took part in Band Aid's UK number-one single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984 and performed at the following year's Live Aid concert. His debut studio album, Faith (1987), won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Michael then went on to release a series of multimillion-selling albums, including Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990), Older (1996), Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael (1998), Songs from the Last Century (1999), Patience (2004), and Twenty Five (2006).

Michael came out as gay in 1998, and was an active LGBTQ rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. His personal life, drug use, and legal troubles made headlines following an arrest for public lewdness in 1998 and multiple drug-related offences. The 2005 documentary A Different Story covered his career and personal life. His 25 Live tour spanned three tours from 2006 to 2008. In 2011, Michael fell into a coma after developing pneumonia, but recovered. He performed his final concert at London's Earls Court in 2012. Michael died of heart disease on Christmas Day in 2016, at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

Michael achieved 10 number-one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100 and 13 number-one songs on the UK singles chart. His most successful singles include "Careless Whisper", "A Different Corner", "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)", "Faith", "Father Figure", "One More Try", "Monkey", "Praying for Time", "Freedom! '90", "Jesus to a Child", "Fastlove", "Outside", "Amazing", and "An Easier Affair". His awards include two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards. He was listed among Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Singers of All Time and Billboard's Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time. The Radio Academy named him the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004.

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (Greek: Γεώργιος Κυριάκος Παναγιώτου) was born in East Finchley, the only son and the youngest child of three. His father, Kyriacos "Jack" Panayiotou, was a Greek Cypriot restaurateur who emigrated from Patriki, Cyprus, to England in the 1950s. His mother, Lesley Angold (born Harrison, 1937–1997), was an English dancer. In June 2008, Michael told the Los Angeles Times that his maternal grandmother was Jewish, but she had married a non-Jewish man and raised their children with no knowledge of their Jewish background due to her fear during World War II.

Michael spent most of his childhood in Kingsbury, London, in the home his parents bought soon after his birth; he attended Roe Green Junior School and Kingsbury High School. Michael had two sisters: Yioda (born 1958) and Melanie (1960–2019). On BBC's Desert Island Discs, Michael said that his interest in music followed an injury to his head around the age of eight.

While Michael was in his early teens, the family moved to Radlett. There, Michael began attending Bushey Meads School in Bushey, where he, as "Yog" befriended his future Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley. The two had the same ambition of being musicians. Michael busked on the London Underground, performing songs such as "'39" by Queen. His involvement in the music business began with his working as a DJ, playing at the Bel Air Restaurant in Northwood, London, clubs, and local schools around Bushey, Stanmore, and Watford. This was followed by the formation of a short-lived ska band called the Executive, with Ridgeley, Ridgeley's brother Paul, Andrew Leaver, Jamie Gould, and David Mortimer (later known as David Austin).

Michael formed the duo Wham! with Ridgeley in 1981. On the cusp of fame, he decided to legally change his name to the more accessible George Michael. The band's first album Fantastic reached No. 1 in the UK in 1983 and produced a series of top 10 singles including "Young Guns", "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", and "Club Tropicana". Their second album, Make It Big, reached No. 1 on the charts in the US. Singles from that album included "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (No. 1 in the UK and US), "Freedom", "Everything She Wants", and "Careless Whisper" which reached No. 1 in nearly 25 countries, including the UK and US, and was Michael's first solo effort as a single. In December 1984, the single "Last Christmas" was released. In 1985, Michael received the first of his three Ivor Novello Awards for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.