George Michael quits public gaze with candid film

BERLIN - Singer George Michael said a candid documentary about his life that premiered in Berlin on Wednesday was his way of putting the record straight before he disappeared from the public gaze.

He also used his platform at the Berlin Film Festival to criticise record industry executives employed to spot talent, and declared his style of pop music dead.

"The people who are employed to do that are clueless, so basically I think my genre has been killed off by corporate thinking," he told a packed press conference.

Wearing his trademark sunglasses and designer stubble, the 41-year-old said he was not interested in competing with the likes of British musicians Robbie Williams or Will Young. He would, however, continue to write music in some form.

George Michael: A Different Story traces a rags-to-riches journey that made Michael one of the biggest selling artists of the 1980s and 1990s but which was not without problems along the way.

"The time of hiding has been over for a while, but actually this is probably the most you're ever going to see of me," he told reporters.

"I think the future is a much more behind-the-scenes affair for me. That won't really be a matter of privacy, it will just be a matter of me not being around. I just thought it was very important to explain myself before I disappear. "

Michael lays his soul bare in the 100-minute film in which he speaks about losing a lover to Aids, of the infamous lewd act in a toilet and the media fury over his anti-Iraq war stance.

The documentary is fascinating as much for its insight into life as a celebrity as it is for revealing at least some of the truth about the notoriously publicity-shy star.

Michael's meteoric rise to superstardom, first with Wham! and then as a solo artist, was complicated by the fact that he was gay while widely believed to be straight.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, I'm a massive star and I think I may be a poof. This is not going to end well'," he said in the film.

Michael eventually outed himself after being charged with lewd behaviour in a Beverly Hills toilet in 1998, although he lost Brazilian boyfriend Anselmo Feleppa to an Aids-related condition in 1993.

"I remember looking at the sky and saying: 'Don't do this to me'," Michael said, referring to the moment when Feleppa told him he was going for medical tests.

Ballads such as Careless Whisper and Faith have propelled Michael to the pinnacle of the music world.

He has sold more than 70 million records, and his 1987 album Faith yielded six number one singles in the key American market. He has amassed a personal fortune estimated at £80 million ($211.80 million).

He has also had fallow years, such as when he fought a losing battle against his record label in the early 1990s.

He came roaring back in 1994, performing the acclaimed Jesus to a Child single under Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

Elton John appears in the film and repeats his criticism of Michael that his decision not to tour was a waste of his talent.

"I find him very frustrating," said John.

John also takes a swipe at Michael's reluctance to tell the world that he was gay.

"To be busted in the toilet is not the best way to come out of the closet, is it?" John asked.

Michael said he never thought the incident would destroy his career, but he was "floored" by the media backlash triggered by his opposition to the war in Iraq.

The video for Shoot the Dog features cartoon figures of US President George W Bush in bed with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife.

- REUTERS