The Royal Mint has unveiled a new coin in honour of late singer George Michael as part of its Music Legends series. The design features Michael wearing his signature sunglasses and looking downward, while an engraving of the refrain from his 1987 solo track ‘Faith’ is also included. The design also features splashes of black and red, colours that were used prominently throughout his career. Sandra Deiana, the coin’s designer, said she wanted to capture “a detailed portrait” of the musician “that captured his charismatic expression.”
Michael grew up in Hertfordshire and alongside Andrew Ridgeley, founded the band Wham!. The commemorative coin follows the erection of a blue plaque in his honour at Bushey Meads School in 2018. Steve Stunt of the George Michael Appreciation Society of Bushey said he had requested a coin of the musician from the Royal Mint several times over the years, and called the coin “fantastic” and said the recognition from the Royal Mint was “awesome”.
Sharing its response to the new coin, George Michael Entertainment said it was “deeply honoured” and that Michael himself would have felt “enormously proud and genuinely touched that a national institution should have decided to pay tribute to his memory in this way”. Michael died in 2016 at the age of 53.
Wham!’s song ‘Last Christmas’ also recently reached the number one spot on the UK singles chart for the first time, 39 years after it was first released. In November 2021, one of the singer’s jackets was listed among more than 200 pieces of music memorabilia going to auction, alongside a leather jacket worn by Michael Jackson and a hairpiece that belonged to Amy Winehouse. The La Rocka! jacket worn by Michael in the music video ‘I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)’, alongside Aretha Franklin, sold for £93,750 including the buyer’s premium
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