James Gavin is a biographer of the highest order, with a gorgeous sense of narrative and insight galore. His George Michael: A Life is a backstage, all-access pass into a glittery world filled with dark corners and trap doors. It’s a thrilling, albeit cautionary tale of success, excess, and a remarkable performer who met his destiny head-on.
New York Times bestselling author of The Beatles&# Bob Spitz
"A fascinating, heartbreaking bio."
Gavin’s engrossing biography of the singer takes the measure of a gifted, tragic and infuriating man.
George Michael: A Life is quite a life—one you won’t easily forget. James Gavin has written a thoroughly researched, engrossing, and illuminating portrait of a pop icon battling his own demons, the era’s raging homophobia, and the ever-changing musical scene. Gavin captures the highs and lows with great intelligence and sensitivity. It’s insightful and profoundly moving.
author of Mapplethorpe: A Biography Patricia Morrisroe
James Gavin has delivered a stunning, empathic, and peerlessly knowledgeable biography of George Michael. Gavin’s attention to his subject’s artistry, his honest treatment of Michael’s struggles, his sharp-eyed understanding of the last days of record-company dominance, and his comprehension of the shifting tides of gay acceptance in our culture are sublime. The author of biographies of Chet Baker, Lena Horne, and Peggy Lee has, with this book, firmed up his place as one of our very best writers about music and life.”
George Michael’s burning ambition, incredible talent, and dark secrets are examined by James Gavin in this engrossing behind-the-scenes portrait.
former president of MTV Productions Doug Herzog
A compelling portrayal of one of the most enigmatic entertainers in music, a fascinating tale meticulously researched and written by James Gavin.
bestselling author of Simply Halston: The Unto Steven Gaines
Read without prejudice and be prepared to be rattled and moved. Only James Gavin could do justice to this story of mercurial creativity, sex, and self-destruction in the glittery, harrowing, ethereal heights of pop stardom.
James Gavin is an ace biographer, and inGeorge Michael: A Life he tells the heartrending tale of a pop legend who couldn’t love himself but made the whole world feel good.
Music biographer Gavin offers a probing, definitive portrait of the equally gifted and tortured artist, charting his meteoric rise in the ’80s through his public self-destruction and tragic death.”
Gavin’s engrossing biography of the singer takes the measure of a gifted, tragic and infuriating man.—New York Times People Magazine
“James Gavin has delivered a stunning, empathic, and peerlessly knowledgeable biography of George Michael. Gavin’s attention to his subject’s artistry, his honest treatment of Michael’s struggles, his sharp-eyed understanding of the last days of record-company dominance, and his comprehension of the shifting tides of gay acceptance in our culture are sublime. The author of biographies of Chet Baker, Lena Horne, and Peggy Lee has, with this book, firmed up his place as one of our very best writers about music and life.”
—Sheila Weller, author of Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a George Michael: A Life is a backstage, all-access pass into a glittery world filled with dark corners and trap doors. It’s a thrilling, albeit cautionary tale of success, excess, and a remarkable performer who met his destiny head-on.”—Bob Spitz, New York Times bestselling author of The Beatles: The Biography and Led Zeppelin: The Bio Steven Gaines, bestselling author of Simply Halston: The Untold Story and The Love You Make: An Insi David Hajdu, author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn and Positively 4th Street: The Live George Michael: A Life is quite a life—one you won’t easily forget. James Gavin has written a thoroughly researched, engrossing, and illuminating portrait of a pop icon battling his own demons, the era’s raging homophobia, and the ever-changing musical scene. Gavin captures the highs and lows with great intelligence and sensitivity. It’s insightful and profoundly moving.”—Patricia Morrisroe, author of Mapplethorpe: A Biography George Michael: A Life he tells the heartrending tale of a pop legend who couldn’t love himself but made the whole world feel good.”—Danny Fields, manager, the Ramones Doug Herzog, former president of MTV Productions Bay Area Reporter USA Today
"A fascinating, heartbreaking bio."
Paul Bellantoni's resonant, empathetic performance leaves nothing to be desired in this revealing, often touching biography of pop music giant George Michael.
05/01/2022
Gavin (Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne ) chronicles the rise of pop megastar George Michael (1963–2016) from humble second-generation Greek Cypriot immigrant in working-class London, where he recorded his first song at age 10, to his success as part of the '80s pop duo Wham!, which launched Michael to worldwide fame and fortune. Michael's vocal and songwriting talents and desire to be taken seriously for his craft are showcased here alongside his notoriously controlling persona regarding artistic decisions; these are counterbalanced by his extraordinary generosity to charities and individuals in need. A fierce rivalry, tinged with admiration, for Elton John and diverse friendships with others, including Princess Diana, recur throughout. A "will he or won't he" thread about Michael's coming out as a gay man adds suspense, contextualized by interviews with Michael's collaborators, family, agents, managers, and recording executives. VERDICT Gavin's fluent, gripping account of Michael's roller-coaster music career will draw readers in. An emotionally fulfilling read.—Barry Zaslow
Paul Bellantoni’s resonant, empathetic performance leaves nothing to be desired in this revealing, often touching biography of pop music giant George Michael. The vocal tone Bellantoni adopts is restrained and sometimes somber, an approach that sounds right, considering the outsized pathos generated by Michael’s charismatic, erotic, tortured life. There’s no need to add more drama to this story! Michael didn’t handle his celebrity status well. In this thoughtful, meticulously researched biography, award-winning music author James Gavin offers compelling insights into Michael’s conflicts about being gay and his all-too-public descent into the typical excesses of stardom—sexual acting out, substance abuse, and self-imposed legal and health problems. The audiobook includes analysis of Michael’s artistic output and revealing interviews with many who knew him. T.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Paul Bellantoni’s resonant, empathetic performance leaves nothing to be desired in this revealing, often touching biography of pop music giant George Michael. The vocal tone Bellantoni adopts is restrained and sometimes somber, an approach that sounds right, considering the outsized pathos generated by Michael’s charismatic, erotic, tortured life. There’s no need to add more drama to this story! Michael didn’t handle his celebrity status well. In this thoughtful, meticulously researched biography, award-winning music author James Gavin offers compelling insights into Michael’s conflicts about being gay and his all-too-public descent into the typical excesses of stardom—sexual acting out, substance abuse, and self-imposed legal and health problems. The audiobook includes analysis of Michael’s artistic output and revealing interviews with many who knew him. T.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
2022-03-08
The broad contours of George Michael’s life (1963-2016) in the spotlight are well known to pop-culture fans. In this detailed, evenhanded biography, Gavin, biographer of Chet Baker, Peggy Lee, and Lena Horne, puts those moments into context and offers explanations for Michael’s often confusing actions. As the charismatic, swaggering frontman of Wham! and then the multiplatinum solo superstar behind Faith and its string of hits, Michael seemed unstoppable in the 1980s. “I’m 21 years old and I’m not saying this to brag, but I’ve achieved more as a performer, writer, and producer than anyone else ever has by the same age,” Michael said early in his winning streak. However, in pop culture, the highs rarely last—especially, as Gavin points out, when the star is a closeted man, taunting both competitors and the media. “He had set himself a dangerous trap,” Gavin writes. “He wanted to titillate with sex and keep his secrets untouched.” From there, Michael’s problems only multiplied. The love of his life died from AIDS, his drug addiction intensified and expanded beyond marijuana, and his sexual adventures got him arrested in a public restroom in Los Angeles. To his credit, Gavin handles Michael’s problematic years as equitably as the storybook ones. When the facts are inconclusive, as they are surrounding Michael’s death in 2016, Gavin makes sure to say so: “Had he, in fact, committed suicide? Perhaps not consciously, despite prior efforts. But anyone who remembered Michael’s belief that he had set himself up passive-aggressively to be outed in 1998 had cause to wonder if he had taken steps to set his own death in motion.” Though some of the author’s descriptions of the 1980s music scene are only serviceable, his first-rate reporting makes this biography sing.
Gavin’s real stories of triumphs and tragedies poignantly explain one of pop’s most enigmatic stars.
