Listen back to George Michael’s intimate Desert Island Discs interview

George Michael’s eight castaway records.

George Michael passed away aged 53 on Christmas Day. His death was announced by his publicist, who made a statement on the evening of 25 December, confirming the star “passed away peacefully at home.”

As the world comes to terms with the loss of another superstar in this most remorseless of years, tributes to Michael’s generosity of spirit abound, both in relation to charitable causes and his unwavering and defiant advocacy of LGBT rights.

Back in 2007, George Michael was Kirsty Young’s guest on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, accompanying his choice of eight tracks with a particularly candid and wide-ranging interview touching on his childhood, sexuality, his creativity and insecurity, the power of fame, and its attendant feelings of guilt and suffering.

And for his musical selections, Michael talks passionately about the talent of Amy Winehouse (subsequently tragically cut short), Roxy Music, who in his mind wrote “some of the sexiest music of the last thirty years”, Nirvana, Pet Shop Boys, Goldfrapp and Gnarls Barkley.

Listen to the interview in full here and hear a condensed clip below: