From the quiet suburbs of north London came one of the most gifted, complex and compelling figures in British popular music.

With more than a hundred million records sold, George Michael’s music became the soundtrack to millions of lives. From the exuberant energy of Wham! to the confidence and sophistication of Faith, and the grief-shaped beauty of Older, Michael continually reinvented himself while creating songs of remarkable honesty.

Away from the spotlight, he remained a man of contradictions: privately generous, fiercely protective of his artistic freedom, and often burdened by the fame he had worked so hard to achieve. The tension between public image and private reality would define much of his life, and the music was where those conflicts found their clearest expression.

Packed with photographs and discographies, this book traces Michael’s full journey – the ambition, the success, the creative battles, the loves that sustained him and the losses that changed him forever. It is the story of an artist who never stopped searching, and whose music continues to resonate long after his voice fell silent.