@dianaross on stage with @georgemofficial during Motown Returns to the Apollo in Harlem, New York, 1985; Michael and #steviewonder at the 1997 VH1 Honours in Los Angeles. From Ross and her group the Supremes, biographer James Gavin writes, George Michael "got his first taste of the catchy hooks and melodies that made a pop song unforgettable.” He closed the concert with Stevie Wonder, duetting on ‘Love’s In Need of Love Today’, and also performed his own ‘Careless Whisper’ with @smokeyrobinson. Michael was a white soul singer whose voice was a natural fit on pop, adult contemporary and R&B radio stations, and his debut solo album is one of the biggest sellers of all time. But he would soon face backlash as the "white acceptable face of Black music", while the Aids crisis and the passing in the UK of Section 28 further marginalised him as a (closeted) gay man. James Gavin’s ‘George Michael: A Life’ (2022) seeks to provide an underside narrative to Michael’s own self-portrait film, 2022’s ‘Freedom Uncut’. I’ve drawn from both to write about Michael for the next issue of the @londonreviewofbooks (link in bio). P.S. Before anyone comes for me over the line “Not since the Supremes and Diana Ross had a pop group produced a lead singer so clearly destined for solo success”, yes, I thought about Michael Jackson. But Off the Wall, his breakthrough, was his fifth studio album, so he wasn’t a solo superstar out of the gate like Ross was. #georgemichael