caption death_date birth_place name background birth_date image article_title birth_name
george 2008 . michael performing during his 25 live tour in -rcb- -rcb- east finchley , london , england george michael solo_singer 25 june 1963 george michael 25live.jpg george michael
 georgios kyriacos panayiotou
george michael

georgios kyriacos panayiotou -lrb- born 25 june 1963 -rrb- , better known by his stage name george michael , is an english singer , songwriter , multi-instrumentalist and record producer .
michael rose to superstardom during the 1980s and 1990s with his style of post-disco dance-pop .
he has also been characterised as a blue-eyed soul singer , although his material draws more from middle-of-the-road pop than soul music .
as one of the world 's best-selling music artists , michael has sold more than 100 million records worldwide as of 2010 .
his 1987 debut solo album , `` faith '' , has on its own sold more than 20 million copies worldwide .
michael has garnered seven number one singles in the uk and eight number one hits on the `` billboard '' hot 100 in the us .
in 2008 , `` billboard '' magazine ranked michael the 40th most successful artist on the `` billboard '' hot 100 top all-time artists list .
michael has won numerous music awards throughout his 30-year career , including three brit awards -- winning best british male twice , four mtv video music awards , four ivor novello awards , three american music awards , and two grammy awards from eight nominations .
in 2004 , the radio academy named michael as the most played artist on british radio between the period of 1984 -- 2004 .
the documentary `` a different story '' was released in 2005 ; it covered his personal life and professional career .
in 2006 , george michael announced his first tour in 15 years , the worldwide 25 live tour , spanning three individual tours over the course of three years -lrb- 2006 , 2007 and 2008 -rrb- .
