In the Spotlight

You know all about the guy getting his Larry Craig on in a Beverly Hills restroom.

You know about the drug busts, the indignity of Limp Bizkit covering one of his signature hits and his status as a pinata of punch lines for a time.

But in honor of his first U.S. shows in 17 years on his "25 Live" tour, here are 25 things that you might not know about George Michael:

1. His full name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.

2. As a kid, Michael wanted to be a pilot, but couldn't because of vision issues (he's far-sighted and color blind).

3. Michael's parents were immigrants from Cyprus. In England, his father owned a restaurant and his mother worked three jobs at one point.

4. Upon his mother's death, Michael has claimed that he was smoking up to 25 joints a day to help cope with the loss.

5. Frank Sinatra once penned an open letter to Michael that ran in the Los Angeles Times telling him to "cheer up" and "stop whining" about the pitfalls of celebrity.

6. In October 2000, he bought the piano that John Lennon used to write "Imagine" for 1.45 million pounds.

7. Michael's solo debut, "Faith," was the first album to generate six top five singles in the United States.

8. He was the first white solo artist to duet with Aretha Franklin, teaming up with the Queen of Soul on her hit "I Know You Were Waiting (For Me)."

9. For his second solo album, "Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1," Michael refused to do any press, tour or make videos. "I decided that the thing I really needed was my song writing. I didn't need celebrity," he told Hello Magazine of his decision.

10. According to The Mirror, he once offered renowned graffiti artist Banksy 2 million pounds to paint a wall in his house.

11. On New Year's Eve 2007, Michael got a cool $3 million to sing for Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin and 300 guests for an hour.

12. According to a story in The Times of London last year, Michael ranks 896th out of the 1,000 richest Brits, worth an estimated $150 million, ahead of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

13. His controversial 1987 hit "I Want Your Sex" was banned from play on the BBC during the daytime because of its suggestive lyrics. Stateside, Casey Kasem refused to refer to the song by its name on his weekly radio countdown show, instead calling it "the new single by George Michael."

14. MTV reportedly asked Michael to reshoot the video for "I Want Your Sex" because of the AIDS scare at the time.

15. He will no longer perform "Sex" or early Wham! hit "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in concert. He doesn't like to sing "Careless Whisper" either, though he's relenting on this tour.

16. In an article in The Independent, Michael said that he hid his sexuality for years because he didn't want to distress his mother.

17. Before he came out of the closet, he was linked with Brooke Shields and Whoopi Goldberg in the tabloids.

18. Michael is the most heavily played artist on the U.K. airwaves over the past two decades.

19. Michael has been involved in the planning of "Wham: The Musical," though even he admits it doesn't sound like the best of ideas. "The truth is that done onstage, there will be no charm and you'll be left with a lot of cheese," he told the N.M.E.

20. According to a biography written by Rob Jananovic, Michael once stopped a video shoot for Wham!'s "Careless Whisper" in Miami because his hair was getting frizzy. He demanded that it be cut and all previous scenes be scrapped to the tune of $17,000 in lost footage.

21. In a 2005 article in The Independent, he said he still seeks out a "huge amount" of sexual partners, including prostitutes. "You don't pay an escort for sex," Michael said. "What you really pay an escort for is to leave after sex."

22. According to The Sun, he recently had a falling out with former good friend Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls after Michael allegedly took too long to write the comeback single for the Spice Girls' reunion.

23. Among Michael's favorite artists are Rufus Wainwright, Amy Winehouse and Nirvana. He's called the latter band's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" "the best-produced record in the history of rock."

24. Michael has intimated that he will play the final two shows of his career on Aug. 24 and 25 at London's Earl's Court.

25. One of his nicknames is "TLTI," short for "the legend that is."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.