Way back in the early 90s, I was visiting the 'Greetings Galaxy' - a shop where you used to get Archies and Hallmark cards in TVM. On the wall facing the entrance, there hung a life like picture of a handsome young man, who from the looks I presumed to be a singer. It was signed George Michael. I didn't know who he was at that time. Because in those days,for a middle-class family girl like me, western/pop music meant ABBA, BoneyM and a few names like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Lionel Ritchie. But this name somehow got registered in my mind. Couple of years later, after marriage, I came across the same face in my husband's audio cassette collection. I then came to know that he's talent personified in pop music, had already carved his name as icon in the pop genre through the band Wham! and that he's now on his successful solo spree! Together we listened to his songs, bought his new albums.., I don't know how many times I had listened to the ballad, 'Father Figure' in those days!
As priorities in life changed and giving the best as a mother, wife as well as a working woman became my sole aims, George Michael and his music gradually faded to the background but never forgotten. As years progressed and Internet and Google became part of one's routine life, my outlook, interests and tastes took different turns. Bryan Adams, Sting, Duran Duran, Eric Clapton and Kenny G also entered my list of favorites - that too only selected songs. But the melancholy of the song Father figure always haunted me and it still haunts.
A year back, a routine rummaging through the Internet pages brought in memories of this singer once again and with sadness I read about his plight. And the way he looked - less confident, overweight..a stark contrast to the George Michael of the 90s...with a life that has spiraled out of his control. But I was happy that he was not bankrupt and that he still continued to be one among the richest pop singers with a sale of 100 million solo albums to his credit. And then suddenly, one morning I hear the news that he has said goodbye to all of us..at the age of just 53...It is so very sad...And everyday, stories about his undisciplined life are pouring out- of chaos, confusions, drugs, sexual identity and what all. I now understand that he was indeed bankrupt - He was rich with money but had no one to understand or care for...At the same time, he was kind and generous to many but anonymously...He was reclusive, feeling dejected and abandoned, forever finding solace in drugs..
Even now like all other music lovers, I cannot come to terms with the fact that he's no more. And I just wanted to pen these thoughts because that life-like picture on the wall of that shop is still so fresh in my memory even after all these years...And I am angry at this world for ruining the life of a God-gifted man...I am sure in that eternal world, along with MJ, Freddie Mercury, George Harrison and others, he'll sing songs for us in that mesmerizing voice, making our feet tap and lips hum once again, when we reach there....And if there is rebirth like we believe, I pray to God to give him a life of discipline, success, and fame as a musician in his next life - and that he will forever be remembered in history as a great singer, as he had always wanted in this life...
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