George Michael News

The 44-year-old British singer has inked a reported $7 million deal with HarperCollins in the U.K. to pen a memoir that he has promised will "access all areas" of his life. 

"George is one of the best known and best loved pop singers in the world, with an extraordinary story to tell," said Harper Nonfiction UK publisher Belinda Budge. "I am particularly thrilled by this deal, as I have long been a fan of George's. Most importantly, this really will be a truly authentic book—and an exceptional one, as he's going to be writing it entirely himself."   

The as-yet untitled tome is expected to hit shelves in fall 2009. 

"George has promised HarperCollins a no-holds-barred biography, and it's certain to be just that," Andy Stephens, Michael's manager, said in a statement.

"People aren't stupid. They're beginning to notice that the truth is more interesting than the stories the press come up with." 

Well, the press had to start somewhere. 

Michael, whose last major hit single in the U.S. was his 1991 duet with Elton John on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," staged a successful European comeback tour last summer but never really was out of the public eye thanks to some of his quirky sex-and-drug-related exploits. 

The "Father Figure" singer was sentenced to 100 hours of community service in June after pleading no contest to unfit driving in England after police found his car stopped at a North London intersection, with Michael passed out behind the wheel, in October 2006.  

Tests found marijuana and GHB (or, liquid ecstasy) in his system, although the artist's lawyer maintained that it was prescription sleeping pills that prompted his involuntary nap.  

Similarly, in May 2006 Michael dozed off while stopped at a London traffic light, awakening after a concerned citizen tapped on his window.  

Michael good-naturedly spoofed one his more ignominious claims to fame in the recent series finale of the HBO sitcom Extras. In the episode, Ricky Gervais' character runs into an acquaintance of his sitting on a park bench that turns out to be a notorious gay pickup spot.  

After Gervais realizes what's going on, along comes Michael, inquiring where the action is—a reference, of course, to his 1998 arrest for "engaging in a lewd act" in the restroom of a Beverly Hills park. The ensuing scandal eventually prompted him to come clean about his sexuality. 

The "Careless Whisper" singer's resurgence has apparently translated to the U.S. Michael also helps kick off the upcoming ABC dramedy Eli Stone on Jan. 31, playing the Ally McBeal-ish title character's hallucinatory muse. 

Of course, Britain's 10th-richest musician can afford a few jokes at his expense. 

Michael, who found platinum-status success with his band Wham! in the early 1980s, became a bearded phenomenon with his Grammy-winning debut solo album Faith, which since 1987 has sold nearly 21 million copies.  

In an interview with BBC Radio in September, Michael said that he was looking to limit his drug use, but that smoking pot wasn't really getting in the way of his life. 

"In a strange way I've spent the last 15 to 20 years trying to derail my own career, but it never seems to suffer," he said. "I suffer like crazy. I've suffered bereavements and public humiliations, but my career always seems to right itself like a plastic duck in the bath. In some ways I resent that."