Celebrating 40 years of Careless Whispering

When Georgio Kyriacos Panayiotou, known to the world as George Michael, was a meager 17 years old, unbeknownst to him, would write the most iconic song of his career. He was known to reference irritation with the fact that he penned a song that had no real meaning to him and he had no emotional connection with, was favorited by everyone. Like for many artists self-critique does not mean it is not amazing, art is left to the interpretation of those viewing, reading, or hearing his or her work and it topped the charts in 25 countries, including the U.S. Additionally, at the age of 21 he won his first Ivor Novello Award for songwriting, making him the youngest recipient to ever win said award. 

Although Andrew Ridgely, the other half of Wham!, is also credited for the song, "Careless Whisper" launched George Michael’s solo career away from Wham! "Careless Whisper" helped solidify him as a solo artist and the band came to an end after the Make it Big tour in June of 1986. George burst into his solo career with Faith just one year later. 

Today, in the U.K. on Smooth Radio’s polls for favorite song it has been voted number one song of all time for a record six years in a row. It has been covered by artists from the likes of Julio Iglesias to Seether. Even if it was not his favorite work, it apparently captivated people enough for us to be celebrating it 40 years later.

An EP celebrating George Michael’s iconic song will and featuring an unreleased live version will be released October 18. PRE-ORDER HERE