British musician George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, June 25, 1963) captured the attention of lusty young gay males and heterosexual females in the UK and the United States when he first appeared on the scene in the group Wham! with bandmate Andrew Ridgeley.
Not only did Michael have a voice, he had a look to go with the sound. When combined, it equaled massive pop music success.
After seven single releases that virtually did nothing in the United States, Wham! finally struck gold with the single “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” which reached number one on the pop music charts. The duo continued their winning streak with such songs as “Careless Whisper,” “Freedom,” “Everything She Wants,” “Last Christmas,”I’m Your Man” and “The Edge of Heaven.”
By 1986 Michael made the decision to strike out as a solo performer. His efforts as a singular force yielded such chart-topping hits as “Careless Whisper,” “Faith,” “Father Figure,” “One More Try” and others, as well as a duet with Aretha Franklin, “I Knew You Were Waiting.”
Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s Michael continued to perform and sell out venues around the globe.
He refrained from addressing his sexual orientation for many years, but finally did so in 1998 in an interview with Jim Moret on CNN just three days after being entrapped by an undercover police officer in a public restroom sex sting in Beverly Hills on April 7, 1998.
Michael was slapped with a fine that would equal about $1,200 in today’s market. He was also ordered to do 80 hours of community service for “engaging in a lewd act.”
Here’s our favorite part of Michael’s career and his opportunity to take a jab at America’s often prudish morality. He cashed in on the concept of making lemonade from lemons when he released the dance single “Outside,” which depicted him as a hot cop in a public restroom that quickly changes to a gay dance club, complete with mirror disco balls and chrome toilets and urinals. Comedic, sexy and danceable all at once, it was an instant hit across Europe, although most stodgy Americans didn’t seem to appreciate it very much, except for his queer fans. The song didn’t place on any charts in the United States save for one: the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Charts, where it rocketed to number three in January of 1999.
While he continued to perform and have musical success throughout Europe until a few years before his death on Christmas Day in 2016 at the age of 53, QNotes feels Michael’s titular gay dance anthem “Outside” makes him more than worthy of this cocktail for the holidays created to honor the man his life and music.
The George Michael ‘Last Christmas’ Cocktail
Ingredients needed:
- Vodka
- Cointreau
- White cranberry juice
- Lime juice
- Cranberry jam
- Sugared cranberries
Directions:
- Place a spoonful of cranberry jam in bottom of glass
- In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine to desired taste vodka, Cointreau, white cranberry juice and lime juice
- Shake well
- Gently pour over cranberry jam
- Garnish with sugared cranberries
This recipe originally appeared on the blog sweetlifebake.com.