Five years after his death, George Michael’s headstone has finally been revealed, inscribed with his full real name, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.
The simple rectangular marble slab has been placed alongside those of the singer’s mother and sister. The message on the headstone reads: “Beloved Son, Brother, Friend.”
Michael was found dead on Christmas Day 2016, aged 53. His sister Melanie died aged 59, three years to the day later.
The siblings are buried with their mother Lesley in Highgate Cemetery, North London.
A source told the British newspaper The Sun that Michael’s grave was left unmarked over fears it would become a morbid tourist attraction.
“But a lot of people believed he deserved better,” the source said.
Shortly after the late pop star’s death in 2016, The Pappas Post published a tribute article titled “The Complicated Relationship Between George Michael and Giorgos Kyriakos Panayiotou.”
Michael was born Giorgos Kyriakos Panayiotou to a Greek Cypriot immigrant father named Kyriacos Panayiotou who changed his name to Jack Panos when he emigrated to London in the 1950s. His mother was a British woman named Lesley Angold who found out later in her life that her own mother was Jewish, but was disowned for marrying a gentile and emigrated to London.
He once jokingly told the BBC interviewer why he changed his name.
“When you’re born Giorgos Kyriakos Panayiotou, there is a very urgent need for a stage name when you’re 18 and want to be a British pop singer,” Michael said.
Featured image: Peter Jordan/The Sun
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