George Michael and David Austin were best friends who met because their mothers were best friends. Austin’s family lived at 67 Redhill Drive in the working class Edgware area of North London, and Michael’s family was at 57. The two wrote songs together and remained close even as one became a global superstar and the other didn’t. Michael was a gifted and determined musical dynamo who became a star at the age of 19, first as a member of the British duo Wham! He won two Grammys in the solo career that followed, and collaborated with some of the greatest stars of the previous generation, including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Elton John. He was a gifted writer, producer, arranger and musician, sometimes playing all the instruments on his songs. And as a singer, he moved fluidly from Motown pop to hard funk to Brazilian bossa nova, with a voice that was sure, expressive and flush with poignancy and drama. Neither Michael nor Austin had significant movie directing … [Read more...] about George Michael Preferred Music to Fame. The Doc He Made Does, Too.
Boy george death
George Joseph Stigler Dies at 80; Nobel Prize Winner in Economics
See the article in its original context from December 3, 1991 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. George Joseph Stigler, a Nobel Prize winner and intellectual anchor of the movement known as the Chicago school of economics, died at the University of Chicago's Bernard Mitchell Hospital on Sunday. He was 80 years old and lived in Chicago. Mr. Stigler died of heart failure, said the university, where he taught economics for the last 32 years. Mr. Stigler is probably best known to … [Read more...] about George Joseph Stigler Dies at 80; Nobel Prize Winner in Economics
Clark Clifford, a Major Adviser To Four Presidents, Is Dead at 91
See the article in its original context from October 11, 1998 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Clark M. Clifford, the silver-haired Brahmin of the nation's political establishment who advised Presidents across half a century of American history, died yesterday morning at the age of 91 at his home in Bethesda, Md. A Secretary of Defense for one President, friend and confidant of three others, Mr. Clifford frequently played the role of capital Wise Man in inner sanctum crises, helping President Harry S. Truman keep peace with labor and warning President Lyndon B. Johnson about the folly of the Vietnam War. With a gentle drawl and an insider's run of the halls of power, Mr. Clifford was consulted as well by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, bridging the nation's postwar political era until he ran afoul of legal troubles in high-finance brokering. For all the … [Read more...] about Clark Clifford, a Major Adviser To Four Presidents, Is Dead at 91
King Charles Fails First Big Colonialism Test
NEWSLETTERS Royalist Want even more Royals news? Sign up for The Royalist newsletter for all things Royal Family. By Clicking "Subscribe" you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy King Charles has failed to defuse a bitter colonialism row after refusing a request to repatriate the remains of an Ethiopian prince transported to England at the age of 7 who was befriended by Queen Victoria, died at 18, and is buried at Windsor Castle. Prince Alemayehu was taken to Britain by British soldiers with his mother, Empress Tiruwork Wube , in the late nineteenth century after his father, Emperor Tewodros, committed suicide when his forces were defeated by the British army. British-authored accounts claim that Tewodros ordered Alemayehu and Tiruwork to go to Britain to seek safety before killing himself, but many historians today characterize his transit to Britain as an abduction, and say that Alemayehu was essentially seized as a prize … [Read more...] about King Charles Fails First Big Colonialism Test
A glorified happy meal and a billion stans: My 24-hour dive into BTS fandom
If you had asked me three weeks ago if I’ve heard of BTS, I’d say sure. I could go so far as to say I knew they are a Korean pop band, or K-pop, extremely popular and … that’s it. So, just how I, the Food & Drink editor of SFGATE, wound up in the parking lot of a local McDonald’s, chatting with two fans about all things BTS over a meal of chicken nuggets this week, is a long story. The short of it is that the mega-fast food corporation has recently restarted its signature combo meals, teaming up with a celebrity on a McDonald’s meal. Travis Scott was the first celebrity to pair with McDonald’s in September 2020 (followed by J Balvin one month later), in a promo which last ran with Michael Jordan in 1992. So when McDonald’s announced it would be teaming up with BTS for a special meal to be released May 26, I figured now was my time to stop being an Old, re-embrace my former boy band-loving self from the early aughts (hello, recovering NSYNC fan, here), and dive deep into this … [Read more...] about A glorified happy meal and a billion stans: My 24-hour dive into BTS fandom
An Opera Composer of Intimate Spareness Returns to Myth
When the baritone Evan Hughes agreed to sing the part of the wild boar in Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Venere e Adone,” premiering at the Hamburg State Opera on Saturday, he didn’t expect to become the star of the show. In most opera versions of the Venus and Adonis myth, like John Blow’s “Venus and Adonis” (1683) and Hans Werner Henze’s “Venus und Adonis” (1997), the boar is silent or eliminated. But in “Venere e Adone,” with a libretto by Sciarrino and Fabio Casadei Turroni, the boar, or the Monster, is not just a singing role — he is the moral core of the story. In this version of the myth, the Monster, who has five solo scenes, doesn’t mean Adonis harm. The creature has been hit by one of Cupid’s arrows, and instantly falls in love with the boy hunting him. “I said yes to the project before I even really understood that the Monster was a sympathetic character,” Hughes said in an interview. “He only becomes violent because of the outside world.” In an interview … [Read more...] about An Opera Composer of Intimate Spareness Returns to Myth