George Michael’s favourite song of all time: “The best female vocalist”
He was Britain’s biggest pop star. He had a voice that could hit wavering notes with a precision akin to swatting flies with a chopstick, and he crafted earnest lyrics that could make you weep without breaking melodic stride. So, while he might have been a consummate hit-making hero, George Michael also helped to wrestle the era away from total commercialism.
He might not have earned his due thanks from the industry. He was hounded and pressured by the powers that be, once stating, “When you just made $200 million for a company, you expect them to have a little bit of patience with you,” but as punters, we can all be thankful for his trailblazing influence. And with the money he did receive for topping the charts over ten times as a solo artist and with Wham, he gave huge sums to charity.
In essence, he made pop a far more interesting place, bringing individuality and honesty to its otherwise fun frivolity. And he brought a sincerity to super-stardom, too. However, none of this made life easier for him, and one performer who proved to be a tragic paradigm of his legacy was the late Amy Winehouse. Michael not only recognised himself in the Camden-based artist but saw her as an unrivalled talent.
“This is the best female vocalist I’ve heard in my entire career,” he declared on Desert Island Discs, “And one of the best writers. So, all I can say is, please, please understand how brilliant you are. And I wish her every success in the future.” At the time, Winehouse was fresh from Back to Black, which had proved to be a huge hit with the critics and audiences alike, but she had also just cancelled her US tour, citing “exhaustion”.
So, what was George Michael’s favourite Amy Winehouse song?
This clearly worried Michael. He continued: “And I know she can get past the media. I don’t know if she can get past… other things, but she’s a fantastic talent, and we should support her.”
This was in 2007, four years before her passing at the age of 27. Nevertheless, Winehouse’s music brought great comfort to the ‘Careless Whisper’ singer, as it continues to do so for millions of fans around the world, and when it came to crowning a song he simply couldn’t live without, he went with ‘Love is a Losing Game’.
Taken from Winehouse’s 2006 record Back to Black, the song arose after a break-up with her future partner, Blake Fielder-Civil. In a manner that seems decidedly like Michael’s own output, Winehouse shed this hardship in a song of seamless relatability and almost bracing honesty. As she told Mojo at the time: “I’m not frightened of appearing vulnerable. I write songs about stuff that I can’t really get past emotionally – and then I feel better.”
The song would go on to be the first finished for the album, setting the tone for the masterpiece that lay ahead. As co-writer and producer Mark Ronson recalls: “She came to mixing on the first day at Metropolis studios in London. The first song we were mixing was ‘Love is a Losing Game’.” He was awed by the seamless ease of the young starlet. She seemed to capture the wry mood that David Bowie encapsulated when he quipped, “I’m an instant star, just add water”.
Continuing, he added: “She had her head down on the mixing board, so I couldn’t gauge her reaction. I’m freaking out, thinking, If she doesn’t like it, we’re pretty f—ed. At the end of it she looks up and walks over, extends her arms and gives me a huge hug. ‘I love it. Just take the harp off after the second verse. It sounds like some Mariah Carey bulls–t.’ It’s emblematic of this thing about Amy. She can cut you down to size in two seconds flat.”
Her music did much the same—arresting something strangely primordial with its smooth vulnerability. In many ways, it was almost the perfect, yearning middle ground between two of his other favourite songs, ‘Jealous Guy’ by John Lennon and ‘Goin’ Back’ by Dusty Springfield. It certainly moved George Michael enough to cover it, which you can hear below.
