George Michael
Pencil Portrait by Antonio Bosano.
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The quality of the prints are at a much higher level compared to the image shown on the left.
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A3 Pencil Print-Price £60.00-Purchase
A4 Pencil Print-Price £45.00-Purchase
*Limited edition run of 250 prints only*
All Pencil Prints are printed on the finest Bockingford Somerset Velvet 255 gsm paper.
P&P is not included in the above prices.
Recommended listening
Faith (1987)
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990)
Older (1996)
Songs from the last century (1999)
Surfing
George Michael
Your link to the George Michael world.
Comments
“I realised early on that being on the road to pop stardom was not going to bring me happiness, but I couldn’t get off.”
“There’s nothing I’d love to do more than marry and have kids. But there’s a lot more to achieve in my work.”
“I think having done something as stupid as that…I’m a very proud man. I want people to know that I have not been exposed as a gay man in any way that…I don’t feel any shame. I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way. But I don’t feel any shame whatsoever and neither do I think I should.”
“I’m also sure that most people find it hard to believe that stardom can make you miserable. After all, everybody wants to be a star. I certainly did, and I worked hard to get it. But I was miserable, and I don’t want to feel that way again.”
Adios George Michael, a songwriter who aspired to greatness. Unhappy in his private life, professionally frustrated, and lacking the required constitution of an ox, his death on Christmas Day 2016 was shocking but hardly surprising. At 53, he looked nothing like my portrait, and yet he should have done. That he didn’t speaks volumes for the lifestyle he had been leading for more than two decades……………….
If the singer had been a troubled soul for decades, then the last five years of his life would also encompass professional trauma. The pop legend lost 20 per cent of his lung capacity after contracting pneumonia in 2011, and was devastated to find it had reduced his ability to sing. Understanding why this sympton would have occurred is key to unlocking the singer’s state of mind in his last years.
One of the biggest challenges to the singer is the common cold. Generally a cold is not a particularly severe illness, and the average person tends to be able to perform their normal daily activities without much effect. It is basically not much more than a nuisance.
But to the singer that nuisance can be a significant impediment to their vocal activities. This is because the parts of the body affected by the common cold are the very same parts that we use for singing.
I checked Wikipedia for a concise definition of the common cold: …also known as nasopharyngitis, rhinopharyngitis, acute coryza, head cold, or simply a cold, it is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract which primarily affects the nose. Symptoms include coughing, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, and fever which usually resolve in seven to ten days, with some symptoms lasting up to three weeks. Well over 200 viruses are implicated in the cause of the common cold; the rhinoviruses are the most common.
Upper respiratory tract infections are loosely divided by the areas they affect, with the common cold primarily affecting the nose, the throat (pharyngitis), and the sinuses (sinusitis), occasionally involving either or both eyes via conjunctivitis. Symptoms are mostly due to the body’s immune response to the infection rather than to tissue destruction by the viruses themselves. The primary method of prevention is by hand washing with some evidence to support the effectiveness of wearing face masks. The common cold may occasionally lead to pneumonia, either viral pneumonia or secondary bacterial pneumonia.
No cure for the common cold exists, but the symptoms can be treated. It is the most frequent infectious disease in humans with the average adult contracting two to three colds a year and the average child contracting between six and twelve. These infections have been with humanity since antiquity.”
So now we have a better idea of what we are talking about. Colds are often referred to as Upper Respiratory Infections, or URIs. The problem for singers lies in the Upper Respiratory Tract which is basically the vocal instrument.
An extension of the common cold is pneumonia, an infection which causes the normal air-containing s paces within the lungs (called the alveoli) and the smaller bronchial tubes, to become inflamed and fill with fluid. Special white blood cells then travel to the lungs to fight off the infection. This all leads to impairment of the lungs’ main function, which is to get oxygen from the air into the bloodstream and then around the whole body. Pneumonia can sometimes be a complication that arises from repeated or prolonged bouts of flu, so it’s important to be aware of its symptoms, particularly at this time of year. It can be a very serious health condition and can lead to death if not treated promptly.