Warner Chappell Music renews publishing deal with George Michael estate

Warner Chappell Music UK has renewed its international publishing deal with the estate of legendary singer-songwriter George Michael.

The extended agreement will see the global publisher continue to curate Michael’s legacy, continuing a partnership stretching back over 40 years covering both his solo material and the songs he wrote as a member of Wham!.

During his career, Michael sold over 125 million records worldwide, topping the charts in the US eight times and hitting the No.1 spot on the UK singles charts seven times. He won six Ivor Novello Awards for his songwriting and also received three BRIT Awards and two Grammy Awards.

“We are genuinely delighted that, after many months of detailed discussions and negotiations, we have renewed our longstanding association with WCM which started in the early ‘80s,” Chris Organ, Michael’s lawyer and co-executor of the George Michael Estate, commented. “We live in an age of sale and acquisition, and interest in, and competition for, this catalogue was fierce. George was a very loyal man who valued and nurtured long-term business relationships; but ultimately wanted to be remembered as a great songwriter. We strongly believe that his legacy as a songwriter, and the protection and enhancement of this stellar catalogue of songs, is best served by a traditional, hands-on day-to-day relationship with an established music publisher. Warner Chappell Music’s current structure and management is ideally suited to achieve those goals. We look forward to continuing our extremely successful relationship and, most importantly, to maintaining the status and integrity of George’s work for many generations to come.”

Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall, co-chairs of Warner Chappell Music, added: “George Michael is one of the greatest songwriters of all time. We all still miss his engaging personality, but he’s left the most incredible legacy in the form of his songs and performances. We take our responsibility to curate and promote his catalogue incredibly seriously, because even the greatest songs still need energetic champions.”

Michael initially found fame as a member of the duo Wham!, alongside Andrew Ridgeley. Their first two albums, Fantastic and Make It Big, reached No.1 in both the US and UK and amassed numerous global hits, including Club Tropicana, Freedom, I’m Your Man, Last Christmas, The Edge of Heaven and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.

He went on to enjoy parallel solo success with the singles Careless Whisper and A Different Corner and left Wham! in 1986. His debut solo album, Faith, entered the US charts at No.1 and spent 12 weeks at the top of the chart, going on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. He was also the only male British solo artist to have four US Number Ones from one album with Faith, Father Figure, Monkey and One More Try.

Multiple chat-topping albums and singles followed over the ensuing decades before Michael passed away on Christmas Day in 2016.

The renewal of the deal comes as Warner Chappell Music has been striking agreements with new partners, from Roblox to Peloton, to enable its songwriters to benefit from uses of music on these platforms. The company has also been expanding its global presence, recently opening offices in cities such as Hanoi and Shanghai to tap into the fast-expanding Asian market.