It was around 1993 when I first sat down and started putting my "ROCK" stories down on paper. ROCK has been through many changes since then and had many titles including "A Mental Life", which was the close 2nd choice to "Rock.” These tales have been sitting on one hard drive or another for years but I wasn't sure what to do with them. The only people that will really appreciate these stories are the Fans ... the fans of who? Well!
My name is Andros Georgiou and I am the cousin of Georgios Kyriacos Panyiotou. I was his confidant, best friend, and by many I was called his brother... his Rock. Together, for over 37 years, we lived out our wildest dreams. To you, he is known simply as GEORGE MICHAEL, to me he will always be Yog.
From the very beginning, I grew up with Yog. I was next to his mum and dad, being held in my dad's arms at his christening, which was held in the same church in London's Bayswater, where both our parents were married, and all six of us children were christened. But more about that later...
(But more about that later this is what we used to say to each other, after every story we told. It became an "in saying" within our circle of friends, or my so-called friends... But more about them later!)
27 years later, back at the church - Yog was to have the honourable duty of becoming Godfather to my first two sons James and Harry. I've got some amazing photos and videos that I will be adding. But more about that later...
There are many funny family moments and stories I will be telling over the coming months. These are the tales of two young kids getting in to all sorts of trouble growing up... from getting caught stealing on a family holiday in Cyprus, to getting caught shoplifting empty cassette boxes from Woolworth's on the Edgware Road. Trouble and mischief were hand in hand with the two of us, although I can now admit I used to start most of it. However, Yog was a great finisher. We were a team through thick and thin - brothers in arms - it was always us against the world. This was a theme that we carried through the years of hiding Yog's sexuality. But more about that later...
Music was a huge part of our lives. By the age of 15, I was already DJ'ing out anywhere that would have me. I bought a mobile disco unit complete with flashing lights and turned our box room at home into a practice room for George and me to test out our mixing skills. We played our first show together at Trans Disco in Cyprus on a family holiday when we were just fifteen, but it was in Soho a couple of years later that changed our lives. Clubs like The Hangout, The Mud, The Wag, The Camden Palace, The Dirtbox, Quiet Storm & Bolts in North London. Here we were rubbing shoulders with pop stars who opened our eyes to a completely new life and made George focus in on his 1st smash 'Wham Rap" and on becoming a star. But more about that later...
From the very first Wham program, to the very first tour that kicked off in Aberdeen, Scotland back in 1982 the credits read; "Andros Georgiou - Our Man Inside The Music Industry.” That was the first of many credits that Yog would give me through his meteoric rise as one of the biggest and most successful singer/songwriters of the century. He was a true "Superstar.”
I was Yog's only constant. I would witness the high and low points of my best mate's career, from the days of WHAM, to his court case with Sony, through his international stardom selling millions of records, and his arrest for lewd conduct in Los Angeles. But more about that much later...
I shared many private moments with Yog and was noted as the man who became his Rock. I was his closest friend, adviser, and confidant, despite a string of managers, lawyers, and advisers who would come and go throughout our life together. We could sit in the studio for days, weeks at a time. Don't get me wrong ... it was my destiny, my pleasure; my duty to be there for Yog in whatever he needed ... which was a friend, a brother, someone he knew would always be there. And I felt exactly the same way. He was first in my life. You can ask the many girlfriends that I will mention as this story develops ... They put up with quite a bit of shit. But more about that later.
Yog relied on my family and me at all hours of the day and night and was always greeted with open arms. My wife Jac, whom I have been married to nearly 18 years, was married to us both and she never had a problem with the situation. Many were amazed at her reaction to our relationship. For example, the night he told me he was a gay and therefore he would never be having children of his own, I told him my children would be his and as it happened, he was at the hospital as Jac gave birth to my first son James. We both took him to our room, leaving Jac in the delivery room, and gave James his first bath together. I remember us sitting on the bed gazing at James until Jac came back. It was natural because he was such a part of our lives. But more about that later...
Our relationship was a love affair of brothers; Yog was the brother I never had and I was the brother he never had. Together we battled with fame, success, fortune, his sexuality and the deaths of two of the most important people in his life. We struggled together through the deaths of both his mother Lesley, my Godmother, and one of my closest friends and his lover Anselmo Fellepa. I honoured Anselmo by giving his name to my second son Harrison Anselmo Georgiou.
Yog and I were inseparable in our lives both personally and professionally for many years. Many doubted my ability, my talent, and the guidance and help that I gave to my best mate, but all I know is it's been 10 years since his last mega-hit and 10 years since we parted. I've been in the toilet, to be honest, over what amounts to nothing in comparison to what we had. But more about that later ...
This is my story. My life, told in my own words, as a very open, honest account. I will take you on one of the most amazing journeys into the world of music and showbiz, and tragedy. Yog and I shared a privileged life that few can ever experience. This book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will reveal the true Yog, but more importantly, it will reveal the funny, amazing stories and encounters we had together with some of the most famous people in the world.
This is the story of two men who started out together in life, entered the music business, one who went on to become a superstar, and the other who became a true friend and confidant. Then, ten years ago in 1999, it was all over in a lunch. But more about that later.
We grew up listening to Elton John. We dissected every song every lyric and every note he played. Only a short few years later we were sitting down for dinner with him as mates, it was mad! We would always pinch ourselves even after the many years and many dinners, he was and still is our idol.
Not a lot of people know this, but I was in the music business before Yog and helped him get "Young Guns" into the charts and on "Top of the Pops.” After that performance, it was "history in the making" as they say. I even received the award of a Silver Disc for 250,000 sales of the single. This was the first of many that I would get over the years. The biggest being for "8 MILLION Faith Albums Sold.” It is huge - Eight Platinum Records encased in glass on top of a huge album cover. Beautiful! It used to hang in my office at Aegean, but now it is in storage somewhere in North London. Just one of the few things to escape the bailiffs and bankruptcy courts... But more about that later...
Rock will take you on a roller-coaster ride of hilarious moments, heartache, emotions, and tears, but most importantly you will be left asking the question, "Why?”
