TONIGHT THE MUSIC SEEMS SO LOUD

A case for taking a superstar more seriously.

In his biography of the late British musician, memoirist and novelist Sanghera writes that he “inherited the George Michael bug as a child from my two elder sisters in the way you might catch Covid, during the peak of Wham! mania in the mid-1980s,” and that “the subsequent fandom has never not caused me problems.” Michael was an inescapable pop-culture figure in the ’80s and ’90s, but later became the target of jokes after his 1998 arrest in Beverly Hills on public lewdness charges; some music fans regard his discography as cringey and tacky (or, as is said in England, “a bit naff”). Sanghera argues that Michael’s career deserves another look. “Perhaps the biggest reason George Michael doesn’t get the recognition he deserves is that he was deeply contradictory,” he writes. “He coveted fame, but complained about it bitterly.” The author explores Michael’s life and music, starting with his childhood as the son of a Greek Cypriot immigrant, and continuing with his early success with the duo Wham! and his subsequent solo career. He looks at Michael through a series of lenses, including the Black music that influenced him (“I do think being from one group can sometimes open your heart to the experience of another”); his initially closeted life in a virulently anti-gay era; and his struggles with drug use, which likely contributed to his death at age 53 in 2016. Sanghera leavens his smart analysis of Michael’s career and legacy with endearing self-deprecation. He is an unapologetic fan of Michael’s, and his sympathetic account makes clear why the singer-songwriter means so much to so many.

A spirited and nuanced portrait of a complex pop icon.