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George ends community service
Dec-22-1998

Pop superstar George Michael has completed the 80 hours of community service he was given as part of his punishment for "lewd conduct" in an LA park, it has emerged. The 34-year-old's attorney, Brad Barnholtz, gave a progress report to Judge Charles Rubin in California. The judge was handed proof that Michael completed his community service at a youth centre and paid $910 (£570) in fines. The former Wham! star also participated in five, one-hour counselling sessions.
Undercover operation
Michael was arrested in April this year by an undercover police officer in a restroom at Will Rogers Park, across from the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. The singer was placed on two years' probation and was told that any future lewd acts would land him in jail.
'Collaboration' with police
He has also been ordered stay out of the park for the duration of his probation, which has about 17 more months to run. In an interview with the BBC earlier this month, the star spoke of his suspicion that his arrest had been a set-up. Speaking to Michael Parkinson, he said: "I think it's fairly likely there was a little more collaboration between the paparazzi and police than is necessary or legal. "There was no-one in the vicinity, but two undercover cops and a slightly randy pop star."


Michael's sales rocket after Parkinson chat
Dec-9-1998

George Michael's TV interview with Michael Parkinson has proved a massive boost for his album, with sales predicted to be twice as high as originally expected this week. The star spoke to the BBC One chat show host about his arrest and its aftermath in a programme last Saturday. Since then sales of his album Ladies And Gentlemen have soared by 70% compared with last week's figure, according to record label Sony. After his arrest in the toilets of a public park in Los Angeles in April he said openly he was gay. The star spoke frankly about his life and performed singles A Different Corner and Outside during his appearance on the Parkinson show. Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for the HMV retail chain, said: "Ever since the Parky interview his sales have rocketed. "We were expecting him to sell around 100,000 copies this week but it now looks likely that he will shift something like 200,000. "Even taking into account the fact that it's the run-up to Christmas and people will be buying it as a present, it's an extraordinary amount. "It seems there's a lot of mums and dads who saw the interview and thought `what a nice fella' then went out to buy the album."


Michael tells all about 'stupid moment'
Dec-5-1998

Pop star George Michael has admitted to the BBC he suffered a great loss of dignity because of his "stupid moment" in a Los Angeles park earlier this year. But in his first British TV interview since he was charged with lewd conduct in April, he told Michael Parkinson he thought he had managed to hang on to his popularity. He said he was grateful for the public support he received since the incident. "I've had a really tough decade. I've lost a partner, I've lost my mother, I've lost my dignity. The one thing I hold onto is my relationship with the public," he said.
Michael told Parkinson the deaths of his first live-in partner, Anselmo Feleppa, and his mother had helped him deal with what happened in Los Angeles and put it in perspective. "Within a day and a half I saw the funny side of it," he said. He admitted he had been drinking before the incident but said he suspected he was set up in the Will Rogers Memorial Park. Michael, who is one of the richest men in the music business, said: "I think it's fairly likely there was a little more collaboration between the paparazzi and police than is necessary or legal. "There was no-one in the vicinity, but two undercover cops and a slightly randy pop star. I was not subjecting the public to full-frontal nudity.
"Ultimately, you don't see it as a massive risk if there is no-one else around, and if there's someone waving their genitals around in front of you, you don't think they're an officer of law. I fell for the trick. It was very well done." He denied he had actually wanted to be arrested so he could come out of the closet. "Believe me, I'd rather have run up and down Oxford Street saying 'I'm gay, I'm gay', than have it happen the way it did." He was given 80 hours community service, fined $800, and put on probation for two years after being found guilty of lewd conduct.
But his new video pokes fun at the incident - and he admitted he took the chance to "have a go" at the policemen who arrested him by naming one of the fictional policemen in the video after the real arresting officer. Michael agreed with the Parkinson production team no subject would be off-limits for the interview, which was taped on Thursday and shown during prime time on BBC One on Saturday. The interview heralded the start of a new series of Parkinson in January, which includes an interview with former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.


I WAS SLIGHTLY DRUNK, George Michael tells Parky
PA News, by Cahal Milmo, December 1998

Pop star George Michael will admit tonight in front of millions of television viewers that he was "slightly drunk" when arrested in a Los Angeles lavatory in April.
His admission in an "open and frank" interview with Michael Parkinson follows an account given to a US newspaper this week in which he says he was driving minutes before the police swoop which led to a fine for lewd conduct.
But the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said no other charges were pending.
A spokeswoman said: "The case against Mr Michael has been closed. We have no other matters against him and any other allegations arising from the incident will be a matter for the police department."
In a renewed attempt to restore his public image, the ex-Wham! star candidly talks to chat show veteran Parkinson about his encounter with undercover police officers in a Beverly Hills park toilet 10 months ago.
He says: "There was no-one in the vicinity, but two undercover cops and a slightly drunk randy pop star. I was not subjecting the public to full frontal nudity."
The star was arrested by the team of vice officers after one, described by Michael as "very cute", saw him openly masturbating in the lavatories.
Michael told newspaper USA Today: "To be honest, I was in my car. I saw this guy cruising, an undercover cop who was basically pretending to cruise.
"He was very cute. I didn't get out of my car until everyone left the park. Then I followed him in ... Then there was like a SWAT team, eight of them jumped out of nowhere. I was absolutely furious."
The musician was fined £490 and ordered to serve 80 hours community service in May after admitting a lewd conduct charge. In the Parkinson interview, Michael tells the TV host he is grateful for the public support he received in the wake of his arrest in the park's public toilets.
He said: "I've had a really tough decade. I've lost a partner, I've lost my mother. I've lost my dignity. The one thing I hold on to is my relationship with the public."
The singer tells Parkinson that the deaths of his first live-in partner Anselmo Feleppa and his mother had helped him deal with what happened in Los Angeles.
Asked why he took such a risk, Michael answers: "Ultimately you don't see it as a massive risk if there is no-one else around, and if there's someone standing there waving their genitals around in frontof you, you don't think they're an officer of law. It's not your first presumption. I fell for the trick. It was very well done."
He also reveals he suspects that he was set up, saying: "I think it's fairly likely that there was a little more collaboration between the paparazzi and police than is necessary or legal."
The star denies the suggestion that he had begged to be arrested so that he could come out publicly.
He said: "Believe me, I'd rather have run up and down Oxford Street naked saying `I'm gay, I'm gay', than have it happen the way it did."
Michael performs his current hit single, Outside, on the show, which will be screened on BBC1 at 9.25pm.
Other stars to appear in the new series of Parkinson, which starts on January 8, include ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

» Geri & Spice Girls & George «


Spicing up Christmas
Dec-14-1998 (shortened)

The race for the Christmas number one has finally started - and the Spice Girls are runaway favourites for their third festive number one in a row. The foursome are now 1-6 with bookmakers William Hill to shoot to the top of Sunday's seasonal chart with their single Goodbye. Around 700,000 copies of the single have been distributed among record shops nationwide for Monday's release date - Virgin Records' biggest ever. If they reach number one, the Spice Girls will be the first act since The Beatles to have three Christmas number ones in a row. Their first Christmas number one was in 1996 with 2 Become 1, and in 1997 Too Much repeated the same feat.
The lyrics of Goodbye have been interpreted as a farewell to Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell, who left the group in May. The chorus goes: "Goodbye my friend/ I know you're gone/ You said you're gone/ But I can still feel you here/ It's not the end." Scary Spice Mel B said: "It's about a lot of things, the end of relationships and stuff."
'Difficult to stop them'
William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said: "There was further support for the Spice Girls over the weekend after they appeared on the National Lottery programme. There's very little to suggest their campaign is not working out very nicely. "It's looking more and more difficult to see what could possibly stop them becoming number one." In the album charts, George Michael will be popping up in more stockings than most this Christmas. Sales of his Ladies & Gentlemen - The Best Of... collection, released as part of the settlement of his contract dispute with Sony, have soared since his confessional BBC interview with Michael Parkinson. Schoolgirl Charlotte Church's Voice of an Angel album is now at number eight in the mainstream charts while at 12, she is the youngest performer to top the classical charts.


Not so nice, Spice
Nov-11-1998 (shortened)

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell has admitted there is still bad feeling between her and the four remaining members of the group. She told a newspaper she has barely spoken to her former colleagues since she left the group in May - a decision she made on the spur of the moment. "I decided what I was going to do on the day. It was a very spontaneous moment when I left," she told the Sunday Times. "I don't regret leaving them when I did, but I regret not having the opportunity to appear at Wembley Stadium with them at the end of the tour. That made me feel a bit sad," she said.
Ms Halliwell, 26, said she decided to leave after "personal" rows with Scary Spice Melanie Brown, Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm, Baby Spice Emma Bunton and Posh Spice Victoria Adams - the only member she has spoken to since her departure. She declined to go into details about the break-up to avoid "shattering" the dreams of the group's fans. But she admits after she left "it was a lonely time". She had to stay away from Britain for three months for tax reasons and had to rely heavily on her close friendship with singer George Michael.
"I had been chasing fame since I was 17, but it was as soon as I had a tiny mouthful I knew it wasn't going to satisfy me. The amount of money and fame you have is all relative and I appreciate the luxuries," she said. "But it doesn't matter how much you have if you're lonely, hurting or feeling insecure. Yet how dare I, the luckiest girl in the world, have the luxury to be depressed? We all get absorbed in our self-pity, and I'm no exception."

Geri's Posh nosh-up
Aug-31-1998

David, Posh, George & Geri at dinner
Posh Spice Victoria Adams and ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell were reunited over the weekend - over dinner in the French resort of St Tropez. Ms Adams and her soccer star boyfriend David Beckham, joined Ms Halliwell and fellow pop star George Michael for the meal in an exclusive restaurant. The dinner date ends rumours that Ms Halliwell was being shunned by the remaining Spice Girls as she pursues her own career. The eye-to-eye chat

Chatting up Ginger
Jul-31-1998

Geri Halliwell, better known as Ginger Spice, plans to reveal on the Internet why she split from the Spice Girls. The former member of the successful teeny bop band says she will answer questions sent in from fans in an online chat likely to take place in September.
Just like George
She came up with the idea of using the Internet after pop star George Michael's online chat which took place a couple of weeks ago. Fans e-mailed over 20,000 questions to George Michael, many concerning the singer's conviction for lewd conduct in a Beverley Hills public toilet.
The singer typed in answers to the e-mails from all over the world and even joked with fans that he was seriously offended at the lack of decent jokes that had been made about his conviction.
Looking after Geri
Geri is a good friend of George's and is currently staying with him in Los Angeles. The chat will take place on the website run by his record company Aegean. Gerard Franklin, spokesman for Aegean said that George and Geri had a lot in common - both have had to deal with the pressures of fame and press attention. "George is taking a father figure role, helping and advising her on the future," he said.
Hot gossip on the Net
Geri left the Spice Girls back in back in May this year in what many believe was an acrimonious split. She has kept a low profile ever since but many have speculated that she wants a solo singing career or a job in TV. Mr Franklin said that by September Geri will have decided on her next career step and she will also be free of contractual obligations which prevent her discussing the break-up. Details of the chat will be posted on Aegean's website when the date is confirmed.

» Entertainment News «


Still a Thriller after all these years
Dec-31-1998

Michael Jackson's video for his single Thriller has been voted the greatest pop video of all time in a survey of British music fans. The 15-year-old promo, which was among the first to transform pop videos into mini-films, came first in a poll of nearly 100,000 viewers of music channel VH1. Number two is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - made in 1975 and often considered the first proper pop video. A-ha's 1985 debut hit Take On Me is third, with its mixture of animation and live action. It had been released before, but the quirky promo was credited with making it a hit.
    The top 10 is:
    1 Thriller - Michael Jackson.
    2 Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen.
    3 Take On Me - A-ha.
    4 My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion.
    5 Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai.
    6 Vogue - Madonna.
    7 Fastlove - George Michael.
    8 Say You'll Be There - Spice Girls.
    9 Earth Song - Michael Jackson.
    10 Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel.


I'm a big EastEnders fan, says Bowie
Dec-23-1998

Rock superstar David Bowie has admitted he is hooked on EastEnders despite spending most of his time on the other side of the Atlantic. In a three-way chat with producer Tony Visconti and Glam photographer Mick Rock on his Bowie Net Website, he said: "I LOVE EastEnders - it's the next best thing to Chekhov." Bowie, who described himself as the "King of Queens", said he planned to spend New Year's Eve 1999 "getting laid".
Another devotedEastEnders fan is George Michael. The singer is so obsessed with the soap that he had the show featuring Tiffany's tumble jetted out to him in Los Angeles. The singer told Capital Radio's Dr Fox: "I did ask if I could be on ... maybe I could wander in the Queen Vic and ask if I could use the bog!" George's old friend, former Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp, joins the show in the new year and he added: "I might ask Martin if he could wear some of my old clothing on set."


Cher supreme in 1998 chart
Dec-21-1998

Cher's number one hit Believe has sunk Celine Dion's Titanic song My Heart Will Go On to become Britain's biggest-selling single of 1998. Sales of Believe - which recently spent seven weeks at the top of the charts - reached 1.46m at the weekend, taking it above Dion's theme from the blockbuster movie.
George Michael's Ladies And Gentlemen: The Best Of... compilation sold more than 300,000 copies last week, the most ever sold over seven days by a double album. This breaks records set by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Elton John. The album is now the third-biggest-selling of the year, with only The Corrs' Talk On Corners and Robbie Williams' Life Thru' A Lens ahead of it. HMV's Jason Legg said: "If George Michael continues to sell as well as he has been doing until the end of the year he looks likely to have the year's biggest-selling album - only 50 days after it was released." By contrast, both The Corrs and Robbie Williams released their albums in 1997.


George Michael's Ladies And Gentlemen
Dec-20-1998

George Michael's Ladies And Gentlemen: The Best Of... compilation sold more than 300,000 copies last week, the most ever sold over seven days by a double album. This breaks records set by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Elton John. The album is now the third-biggest-selling of the year, with only The Corrs' Talk On Corners and Robbie Williams' Life Thru' A Lens ahead of it. HMV's Jason Legg said: "If George Michael continues to sell as well as he has been doing until the end of the year he looks likely to have the year's biggest-selling album - only 50 days after it was released.


George's bid to help Aids scheme over-ruled
Nov-24-1998

Singer George Michael, who was ordered to do community service after exposing himself to a Beverly Hills policeman, says a judge has thrown out his request to work with Aids victims. Michael, convicted of lewd conduct following his arrest in a park toilet, said he believed the judge was acting in retaliation for his comments about police entrapment and a cheeky pop video. The star's new video pokes fun at the circumstances of his arrest by showing him dressed up as a US policeman dancing in a public lavatory. Michael was due to begin his 80 hours of community service this week at Project Angel Food, which delivers 1,000 meals a day to people with Aids.
But Beverly Hills Municipal Court Judge Charles Rubin had a last minute change of mind and instead ordered the singer to work with a programme that encourages school children to do charity work. Michael said: "I am fully aware that in all likelihood I have prompted Judge Rubin's change of heart by my own actions. "I have talked openly about police entrapment and in my latest video made light of recent events."
Michael: 'I'll work all the hours you want'
The Aids charity is close to the pop star's heart. He has been working with them for seven years and is their biggest donor. Michael had already done one day's work there which would have counted towards his sentence. He said the children's programme was a worthwhile cause, but added: ''I can't really see how it can possibly measure up to the needs of the sick and dying."
The singer, who admitted he was gay after his arrest, has asked the judge to reconsider his request. He says he is willing to do more than 80 hours if the judge lets him serve his sentence working for Angel Food. Michael pleaded no contest to exposing himself to the plainclothes policeman in April in the men's room of Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills. In addition to ordering the singer to perform community service, the judge told him to undergo sexual counselling.


George set for community work
Nov-18-1998

George Michael is to undertake his community service in Los Angeles next month- delivering meals on wheels to people with Aids. The former Wham! singer will spend two weeks on a scheme called Project Angel Food, based in Beverly Hills as part of the punishment imposed when the 35-year-old was convicted of indecency in a public toilet last April. The star will travel around LA in a van with another worker from the charity to give out free food to the dying. Project Angel Food was set up to provide a similar service to Britain's Meals On Wheels and is active in helping LA's gay community.


Schoolgirl tops charts with record record
Nov-15-1998

A 12-year-old schoolgirl from Wales has become the youngest female singer to make the UK top 40 album chart. Charlotte Church's debut album Voice of an Angel, which she cut during school holidays, shot to number 24 in the top 40 and number one in the classical music chart on Sunday. Charlotte, from Llandaff, Cardiff, said: "It's brilliant news. I never, ever imagined this would happen. I never thought it would go into the charts so high." It is the second time in a month that Charlotte has made the national news, after she won a Champion Children award for her outstanding singing talent on 5
November.
It was the perfect end to a week in which she met her pop idol George Michael at a charity ball at London's Dorchester Hotel where they both performed. The pair helped raise more than £100,000 for terminally and critically ill children. Describing her encounter with the singer, Charlotte said: "He was really nice and when I asked him for his autograph he wrote: 'What a voice!!! Love and good luck, George'." George Michael entered the chart at number one with his new album Ladies and Gentlemen.
She has also been booked for the BBC's Children in Need on 20 November,
Celebrity pals: Charlotte Church with George Michael
where she hopes to meet All Saints. Sony Music signed Charlotte 15 months ago after she sang for just five seconds with her aunt on a TV talent show. The music giant sweetened the deal with a trip to Disneyworld in Florida for Charlotte and her family.


Ladies and Gentlemen ... a fourth No 1?
Nov-13-1998

George Michael is set to make up for the disappointment of missing out on a number one single by claiming this weekend's top slot in the album charts. The album is outselling its nearest rival, a greatest hits package from Irish rockers U2, by nearly three to one according to midweek sales figures. Ladies and Gentlemen will be his fourth solo No 1 album if, as expected, it debuts at the top. His single Outside is currently No 7 in the Top 40.


New Music Releases: George Michael
Ladies & Gentleman: The Best of George Michael
Nov-7-1998

You've got to hand it to the boy George. He could have disappeared without trace after his unlucky liaison with the Beverly Hills Police Department, but he's come out, so to speak, all guns blazing, ready to give them a taste of their own medicine. You have only got to look at the title to see George's wicked sense of humour.
The Best of George Michael
But if the events of 7 April this year had not taken place would this greatest hits package (part of Sony's £3m court settlement) have attracted quite so much attention? Would he have outed himself in his preferred manner ("running naked up and down Oxford Street singing I Am What I Am") or would his legion of female fans still think that they are in with a shout? The bottom line is that headlines like "Zip Me Up Before You Go Go" have only served to generate a wave of public sympathy (the great British trait) that should see this go on to sell more copies than could possibly have been imagined.
Sad heart
It's very much an album of two halves, divided into songs "for the heart" and "for the feet". The sorrowful Jesus To A Child gets the former off to the most miserable of starts. Anyone on anti-deps would be well advised to skip straight to the twinkling gospel strains of Father Figure, one of the highlights on what is a fairly ordinary collection. It is joined in the higher echelons by the classic Careless Whisper, the song with bags of sax appeal where "guilty feet have got no rhythm". Incredibly this was co-written by Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley. So he did have hidden talents after all? Kissing A Fool finds George in his imaginary white tuxedo, crooning the night away, while A Moment With You is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the cop who found him in the little boys' room. The rest of the "heart" stuff should in all honesty be by-passed, with the Elton John duet on Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me proving only that Elton should not let his latter-day songs be inflicted upon anyone else.
Flat feet
And so to the "feet". Outside deals with George's obsession with sex ("I think about it all the time, 24 seven"), Too Funky is too cheesy and The Strangest Thing IS the Pet Shop Boys. One thing you can't accuse him of is being afraid to experiment and chance his arm with artists as diverse as Queen (Somebody To Love) and Aretha Franklin (I Knew You Were Waiting), while linking up with Mary J Blige to cover Stevie Wonder's As, rather blandly, it has to be said. Faith is restored by the track of the same name with one of the most famous guitar hooks in history. And, although it's not enough to elevate this collection into 'must have' status, George is definitely enjoying the last laugh. It's a fair cop.
(by Chris Charles)


Pop chart breaks record
Oct-25-1998

For the first time in the history of the UK pop chart, all top five singles are new entries. But of the record-breaking new entries, only one could even vaguely be regarded as a new-comer. Sunday's top slots are a real blast from the past, with Cher clinching the number one spot. And eighties giants George Michael, U2 and Culture Club are proving they have still got what it takes, occupying the second, third and fourth positions respectively. Alanis Morisette is the only 90s artist to figure in the line-up, at number five. The entire top three have been new entries on four occasions in the past, most recently last month. But chart compilers CIN said that the entire top five had never before been all new entries. George Michael followed closely behind with Outdoors - a tribute to the pleasures of al fresco liaisons. The video accompanying the steamy track had to be censored before it was shown on Top of the Pops for the first time earlier this week. George Michael first charted in 1982 with Wham! Outside is his first single since he was arrested and fined for lewd behaviour in the toilets at a Los Angeles park.


George Michael builds for fame
Oct-19-98

George Michael has told how he financed his early pop career by working as a building site labourer. Speaking to BBC Radio 1, he said he grew up wanting to be a DJ and was working to pay for his mobile disco. But his career failed to take off when his sister, who'd promised to drive him to gigs, failed her driving test. He said: "It was the worst eight weeks of my life. I needed £500 to buy the decks. I hated the job, I just hated it, it was so not me." But he was heartbroken when his sister failed the test. "That was the hardest work I ever did, and it was all for nothing," he said.


Caine gets lifetime award
October 7, 1998

Film Actor Michael Caine has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in the first ever British GQ Men of the Year awards ceremony. Caine has appeared in over 70 films - in that time he has gained a Golden Globe for Educating Rita and swiped a Best supporting Actor Oscar for the film Hannah and Her Sisters. Hollywood has also recognised his lead work in the cult 60s film Alfie and the 70s whodunit Sleuth. The English actor is famous for making blunt and practical remarks about the secret to his success. "First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent." When receiving his award for Solo Artist of the Year, singer Robbie Williams jokingly gave thanks to his colonic irrigator "for showing me a brighter and clearer path".
Solo Artist of the Year: Robbie Williams
Runners-up: Finlay Quaye and George Michael


George connects on the Net
Jul-17-98

"Pop star George Michael chats online to fans for the first time since his arrest in California for lewd conduct."
Pop star George Michael looked right at home in a chat room on Thursday night. He swore, told a dirty joke and made a number of controversial comments, just like the usual inhabitants, reports the BBC's Internet Correspondent Chris Nuttall.
George was using the Internet to talk to his fans for the first time since his conviction for lewd conduct in a Beverly Hills toilet. He went live on the Net from London typing in answers to e-mails sent to him from all over the world and running well over his two-hour allotted time. The pop star had become something of a recluse since his arrest in California this year and subsequent conviction. But he uses the Internet to sell music online and believes he can talk directly to his fans this way, avoiding in particular the British press which he feels has hounded him. "I'm not here to feed the press tonight," he typed, in his first comment in the Chat room set up online by the Microsoft Network - MSN. He went on to make a number of controversial remarks in response to questions:
  • On China, he said he would only consider touring in the country again if they stopped executing people for going through red lights.
  • On Frank Sinatra, he said he was the finest singer of his time but he did not respect him because of his Mafia connections and the way he treated others.
  • On his own arrest, he said he was seriously offended at the lack of decent jokes about the affair and then told one himself.
    He added that he had been an openly gay man with everyone in his life for a long time, and had tried to tell his fans through his work rather than using the media. "But I think I blew that particular strategy in a big way", he said. He also said he was as angry with the footballer David Beckham for getting himself sent off in the World Cup as the rest of Britain. But he went on: "Let's be honest ... one little mistake and ... well, I can relate, man ... " The star told fans he planned to tour again, starting in England in March next year, and his next album would be a Greatest Hits released later this year.


    George Michael answers back on the Internet
    Jul-16-98

    Pop star George Michael is to speak to his fans on Thursday - via the Internet. The interview follows his conviction in June for a "lewd act" in a Los Angeles public toilet. The musician was fined £500, told to undergo sex counselling and ordered to do 80 hours community service by a Los Angeles court. The star decided that a web chat would be the best way to communicate directly with his fans and answer some of their questions about the affair. The chat will take place at 2000 (GMT). Michael said: "I'm really looking forward to speaking with my fans for the first time on a one-to-one basis." The star approached the Microsoft Network (MSN) with his idea for the two-hour chat session. Fans were able to send in their questions in advance by e-mail. MSN was inundated with 6,000 e-mails containing 25,000 questions - the majority of which referred to his arrest in April this year and subsequent court case. The questions have been cut down to about 150 on the most popular topics, which the singer will work his way through during the session. It is unlikely that George will be able to answer questions sent in live as the huge demand could end up crashing the site. George Michael has long been interested in technology and has used his own website to distribute music in the past. The chat session can be accesssed via George Michael's website, Aegean and on MSN.


    George Michael to face Net exposure
    Jun-29-98

    Pop star George Michael is to stage an Internet chat with his fans following his conviction for a "lewd act" in a Los Angeles public toilet. Michael is reported to have promised to be frank and honest with his fans in the two-hour chat session. In an interview after his arrest, he apologised to his fans for causing them embarrassment, and for putting himself in a position where he said he felt "stupid and reckless and weak". The webcast will also show footage of him dancing at his recent birthday party in London to celebrate his 35th birthday. Michael's website Aegean is well-established, having been the first company to implement the online system, Liquid Audio, which allows users to buy new releases on the Net and download digital recordings. Michael, whose real name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was one of the best-known pop stars of the 1980s during his career with the group, Wham! His success has continued as a solo artist with the top-selling albums, Listen Without Prejudice and Older. He was fined $810, ordered to undergo psychiatric counselling and carry out 80 hours community service after being convicted of the lewd act in the Beverly Hills toilet earlier this year.


    Michael charged with lewd conduct
    April-17-98

    The British-born pop singer, George Michael, who was arrested 10 days ago in a Beverly Hills park, has been charged with lewd conduct.
    A trial date has been set for May 5 but the singer will not have to attend the court personally. If found guilty he could face a six-month jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.
    Two days after his arrest on April 7, Mr Michael gave a television interview in which he hinted he would plead guilty to the charges against him. "I put myself in an extremely stupid position, I won't deny that. I won't even say it was the first time it ever happened. I can only apologise." he told CNN last week.
    Mr Michael, who has tried to keep his private life secret, broke his silence because he said he wanted to let his fans know he was "OK." He also said he was gay, adding he had not had a sexual relationship with a woman for 10 years.
    His arrest made the headlines after a Beverly Hills police undercover squad arrested him in the men's public lavatory at Will Rogers Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Police have declined to say what he was doing.
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