The one thing George Michael wanted to be remembered for: “Some kind of integrity”
For so many people, the idea of a legacy haunts them. They spend their entire lives praying that at least some part of them will be remembered when they’re gone, working tirelessly trying to make it so as they do things and make things, all in the hope that their name will remain. For George Michael, the work more than paid off.
Michael’s desire to make it was second to none – staring when he was just a kid. He met his future bandmate, Andrew Ridgeley, early and when the pair were still in school, it was their mutual desire to become famed musicians that bonded them and spurred them on, spending their weekends busking in the London underground and their weekday nights after school learning and beginning to write songs.
The singer staked a lot on it. He dropped out of school at 17 to pursue music full time, taking on any job he could in that world, whether it be as a DJ or a singer in a ska band.
He quite literally changed his name thinking it would help, swapping out his real greek name, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, for George Michael; thinking it would be more accessible, and more sellable.
He was willing to do that. He was also willing to hide who he was to a degree, not speaking openly about his sexuality because, again, he thought it would make his appeal more broad and more mainstream. It wasn’t until he’d already made it by the late 1980s that he ever publicly addressed the matter.
His desire to make it knew no limits as Michael worked and pushed to build his legacy. It paid off as he’s a household name, an icon of his era and the man behind several timelessly beloved hits. But was that even the legacy he wanted?
When asked what he wanted to be remembered for, Michael’s first thought was simply, “a great singer songwriter”. More so than just a frontman, the Wham! leader wanted his songwriting to be his legacy, ensuring that his memory was as the whole package.
He was immensely proud of the fact that his star power also included skill from his great voice to his way with words. He didn’t care about being remembered for his looks or his swagger or anything fleeting like that. He simply wanted his artistry to remain, stating, “But really it’s just the songs and I hope people think of me as someone, a somebody who had some kind of integrity I hope I’m remembered for that.”
Good songs written by a good person; that’s all he wanted to remain of him and even as a child, striving as he did to make it happen, it was never just fame he was pushing towards. Instead, he always wanted a lasting career and a good, honest legacy. With the work he put in, luckily that’s exactly what he got out of it.
