George Michael quits music
Singer George Michael has said farewell to the world of pop music on, using a candid documentary about his life to put the record straight before he "disappeared"
He also declared the genre that brought him fame and riches, as well as unwanted media attention, was dead.
"That genre is just dead as far as I am concerned," he told Reuters in an interview after the premiere of his documentary at the Berlin Film Festival.
"George Michael: A Different Story" traces a rags-to-riches journey that made Michael one of the biggest selling artists of the 1980s and 1990s but which was not without tragedy along the way.
"I just thought it was very important to explain myself before I disappear," the 41-year-old said. "I truly believe that there's a life for me that is not this one."
When asked what he would do next, he replied:
"Perhaps it will mean writing for other people. I have an ambition to write a truly contemporary musical, not necessarily even for the stage, but for the screen ... I have got to find ways to make music and enjoy it the way I used to."
Michael railed against the advent of manufactured bands and the music world's obsession with celebrity, explaining that he was not interested in competing with the likes of British musicians Robbie Williams or Will Young.
"Nobody want to hear about politics, or any kind of strong ideas in pop any more."
In the 100-minute film, he speaks frankly about losing a lover to AIDS and the death of his mother, of the infamous lewd act in a Beverly Hills toilet and the media fury over his anti-Iraq war stance.
