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George Michael: Manager recalls what the ‘brilliant, cantankerous’ singer was like behind closed doors
22 December 2023, 15:23
Simon Napier-Bell has opened up about his time managing Wham! in the 1980's.
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George Michael may be known for his sweet pop lyrics and charitable generosity, but his ex-manager has revealed that the singer had a will of steel.
Simon Napier-Bell who managed Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael on their rise to stardom in Wham! during the 1980s, has opened up about what it was like to work with the famously private pop star.
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Napier-Bell, who alongside his business partner Jazz Summers, took on management of Wham! in 1983 – and later went on to manage acts such as the Yardbirds, Marc Bolan, Sinéad O'Connor, Ultravox, Boney M and Sinitta – remembers the young singer had fierce ambition from the very beginning.
The manager met his new client at the newly opened Bombay Brasserie in West London in 1983 and George Michael immediately set out his plans for his career, telling Napier-Bell that he had just one year to make Wham! the biggest band in the world.
He remembers bursting out laughing and telling the young singer it was impossible, "but George was wonderfully, youthfully arrogant, which I liked," Napier-Bell tells The Telegraph.
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He went on to say that a strategy was agreed upon after the fourth bottle of wine. "Why don’t I make you the first group to play in communist China? You’ll get non-stop publicity." the star's new manager said. "George said: ‘Yeah, that’s good, we’ll do that.’ So that was it."
The result was a publicity dream. "They were on CBS, ABC News, 24/7, every hour on the hour, for seven days. Two weeks later, we were booking a stadium tour in the US," Napier-Bell recalls.
The manager went on to give insight into George's personality, and how much he enjoyed conflict: "George was at his best when we were having a good argument or a discussion."
“[He] was very cantankerous, difficult, determined to win… He never thought for a second that what he said on any subject wasn’t right. George would say to me: ‘If you don’t agree with what I’m telling you, it’s because you’re not listening.’"
To gave an example, Napier-Bell recalls when George wanted to play a London concert on Christmas Eve in 1984.
"I said to him that no one does gigs on Christmas Eve. There’s never been one in the history of London. There’s no transport. The police don’t work. No one will come.
"George said: 'Well, I’m gonna do one.'
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"So we phoned up Wembley and, sure enough, they were free and had no regulations [against it]. And George [was convinced] people would come. He said: 'There’s no cars on the road on Christmas Eve, so all the parents will bring their kids.'
"And we did two shows that day and it was totally packed," Napier-Bell recalls. "Most fantastic, happy show I’ve ever been at in my life. Everybody came – Princess Di turned up, Elton turned up..."
The star's ex-manager went on to tell how George Michael publicly announced he was going to give all of his proceeds of his 1984 hit 'Last Christmas' to the Ethiopian famine appeal, before his managers had to jump in to explain that that wasn't how royalties work.
"He could give his royalties to Ethiopia, but he couldn’t be telling the record company they weren’t going to keep their share" he says, adding: "Then you’ve got to pay management commission, and half of [the income] is Andrew’s."
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The negotiations became very tricky. "The music publishers and record companies had to look like rogues who were not charitable."
Despite rumours George knew exactly what he was doing, Simon disagrees: "I don’t think he did. He was just a little bit naive and didn’t really think it through."
Royalties are still going to the Ethiopian fame relief to this day – an incredible feat for a song which tops the charts every Christmas.
Simon Napier-Bell released his documentary Portrait of an Artist in 2023, which featured an interview with Stephen Fry, who gave even more detail on George's philanthropic ambitions.
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Fry recalls a private encounter with Michael, where the musician, acting in his role as a patron of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said he wanted to contribute the UK proceeds from his upcoming album to the charity.
The album in question was Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, released in 1998 and "which is probably his best-selling album," says Napier-Bell. "And he gave all those royalties away. That was about £15 to £20 million."
The manager parted ways with Wham! when the band split up in 1986, and he recalls the terrible moment he heard of George Michael's death on Christmas Day 2016, when he was just 53-years-old.
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"I was having Christmas with my boyfriend in Borneo. My phone started buzzing. I got email after email after email. The Sun were saying: '£5,000 paid into your account in the next 10 minutes if you give us an interview.' They’re vile people, they really are."
Asked if he was shocked about George Michael's death, he responds sadly: "There’s no major artist for whom that’s an unlikely ending."
As the seventh anniversary of the star's death approaches, 'Last Christmas' is once again heard up and down the land – but how did George really feel about the song's runaway success?
"It’s a magnificent piece of work, isn’t it?" Napier-Bell begins.
"It’s extraordinary how 'Last Christmas' stands up," he adds. "If it was made this week, would you make it any differently?"
Its success, however, was reportedly a source of conflict for George Michael.
"He was always slightly upset by the fact [that] he naggingly knew it was the best thing he ever wrote, says Napier-Bell.
"George, above all, really wanted to be remembered as a great songwriter. And I think at the bottom of his mind… it was rather annoying that the song he got so perfect was a Christmas song."
