George Michael to be honoured with huge public mural four years after his death

12 August 2020, 11:26 | Updated: 12 August 2020, 15:48

George Michael's home borough of Brent is to pay tribute to the star with a nine-metre permanent mural
George Michael's home borough of Brent is to pay tribute to the star with a nine-metre permanent mural. Picture: Getty

By Giorgina Ramazzotti

George Michael is to be memorialised with a nine-metre high mural in London to celebrate all he did for LGBTQ rights.

The singing sensation will be given a permanent tribute in the London next month.

The mural in the borough of Brent, where George Michael grew up, will be unveiled as part of Brent Borough of Culture 2020 in September.

See more: Forgotten photos of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley at the height of their Wham! fame

British artist Dawn Mellor has been commissioned to create the nine-metre high piece to go on display in Kingsbury.

George Michael will be honoured with a large mural as part of Brent London Borough of Culture 2020.
George Michael will be honoured with a large mural as part of Brent London Borough of Culture 2020. Picture: Getty

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According to The Guardian the mural will be part of Studio Voltaire elsewhere, a series of artworks due to be unveiled across London.

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Dawn Mellow has previously painted prestigious portraits of The Queen and Karl Lagerfeld and her painting of George Michael will be the artist's first public permanent work.

George spent most of his childhood in Kingsbury, Brent and attended Kingsbury High School before moving to Radlett in his early teens where he met future Wham! bandmate, Andrew Ridgeley.

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Speaking to The Sun about his upbringing before his 2016 death, George reflected on the clashes between his mother and father's cultures.

Born on June 25, 1963 in East Finchley, London, George Michael was the third child of his Greek Cypriot father Kyriacos Panayiotou, a restauranteur known as 'Jack' and his English mother Lesley Angold, a dancer.

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“My father was the archetypal 1950s immigrant from Cyprus, very determined, and every single member of his family made something of themselves in this country," George Michael said.

“They’re a typical immigrant family that worked their ar*es off and reaped the rewards."

Brent is the Mayor of London's Borough of Culture 2020 and will be showcasing the area with events including film screenings, poetry readings, workshops, exhibitions and much more for a year from September 2020.

For more information on the project and for how to attend in person or online, visit here.

See more: Watch George Michael's last ever concert - his final words are heartbreakingly poignant