Quote Of The Day By George Michael: 'A Few Things Were Said Which Would Probably Take Your Breath Away If You Heard Them From...'

It's safe to say that the holiday season is incomplete without one listen to "Last Christmas," and no cover compares to the original, bittersweet delivery by George Michael. Born on June 25, 1963, in the suburbs of London, the singer's passion for music coincided with his family's move to Hertfordshire, where he would meet his future bandmate and fellow pop enthusiast, Andrew Ridgeley, at school.

Under their band name, Wham!, Michael and Ridgeley soared to No. 2 in the U.K. charts with their 1982 single "Young Guns (Go for It)." They would accumulate five No. 1s in the U.K. and three in the U.S. over their four-year run, including "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" and "Careless Whisper." Wham! even made history as the first Western pop group to tour China in 1985, just a year before hosting their last performance in 1986. Michael would go on to release his first solo album "Faith" in 1987, the same year he won a Grammy for a duet with soul legend Aretha Franklin, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," and a year later, "Faith" bagged him another Grammy for album of the year.

His success followed him throughout the '90s, but the early 2000s were spotted with controversy and long breaks in touring. His legacy as a British icon was solidified by his performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics, but he tragically died of heart failure on Christmas Day four years later. His monumental achievements and philanthropic spirit persevered despite the homophobia and controversy he faced throughout the years, and that's why he is today's quote of the day.

"And a few things were said which would probably take your breath away if you heard them from a parent to a child."

In his last ever interview, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 (via GM Forever) in 2017, the year after his death, George Michael opened up to his longtime friend and journalist, Kirsty Young, about his dysfunctional family history and how certain harsh comments made about his appearance never left him. Michael revealed how much of an impact it had, saying it took decades to realize how empty they were.

This may surprise anyone remotely aware of how much of a sex symbol Michael was from the mid-'80s and beyond. This recollection of someone who otherwise could have legitimately, in his own words, "... had an ego the size of ... the Taj Mahal" demonstrates how sometimes it's not what is said, but rather who says it that truly makes an impact.

At least in their early days as an act, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were considered a starkly contrasting pair in terms of their personalities and appearance, but the seeds of Michael's shyness date back even earlier. Micheal's childhood wasn't the happiest, with busy, often absent parents who believed that vanity was a sin. 

Despite recounting moments when his parents wounded his confidence, he still asserted in his interview with Kirsty Young that "I come from [a] very close-knit family." Their relationship had drastically improved since his younger years, and his parents had also gone through their own share of tragedy and mental health issues. Ultimately, Michael described how, through maturing, he was able to get to a much healthier and more confident place within himself.

We rely on our parents to teach us about the world, and in many ways, to teach us who we are. It can be hard to imagine them as misguided or wrong after seeing them as the ultimate authority — but they're also human. Never let someone's misunderstanding of the world turn into the weapon you wield against yourself, and your forgiveness is not a denial of any hurt caused.

• "I've always had a very strange sense of my own future and as a child, even though I had no idea that I could write or sing, I was convinced that I was going to be a pop star. I had no real inclination to shout about it because I just felt it was going to happen."

• "It's such an expression of love to place that music in your life. And I had millions of lovers that I never saw other than in the sense of live work. But I still deserved one just one of them — for me."

• "I'm basically a control freak. It's not because I want to be. I'm not at all into the power play that's involved in it. I'm a perfectionist."

• "Being successful has to be something you earn, and my challenge now is to have my music heard above people's perceptions of me."

• "I just hope that I'll stay around musically for as long as I can. I love to think that I will still be satisfying myself and other people as a musician until the day I die."