Sam Sparro frustrated by ‘sanitised’ recollections of George Michael

Sam Sparro feels George Michael’s life has been retrospectively "sanitised".

The 34-year-old singer-songwriter was a huge fan of the ‘Careless Whisper’ hitmaker – who died at home on Christmas Day (25.12.16) – but feels that recent reflections on his life and career are "disrespectful to his legacy" and the gay community more broadly.

Sam – who is openly gay – explained: "George Michael was an earnest and sharp-witted pop auteur, who deserves much greater posthumous fanfare than he has received.

"He was a bold, intelligent and provocative gay man – but in the aftermath of his death, much of the coverage sanitised his life, playing down his queerness in a way that was not only disrespectful to his legacy, but harmful to the community at large.

"With so few – alarmingly few – queer musicians in the pop landscape, we looked to George Michael for inspiration and acknowledgment. He should be upheld as a great storyteller whose beautiful voice expressed it all – pain, joy, humour, love."

Sam hailed George’s rare ability to seamlessly switch between different sounds and admitted the pop icon was a huge source of inspiration to him.

Sam told the Guardian newspaper: "There are many great artists who have a lane that they shine in and they stay in it (and rightfully so). But Michael could glide between a sexy dancefloor filler and an emotional anthem without over-reaching.

"He made me feel like I could do the same. He showed me that pop songs could be both incredibly personal and widely relatable, and that they could have depth. He was extremely hands-on in the studio, taking on the producer role on many of his records. He was exactly the kind of artist I wanted to grow into."

Sam also bemoaned the fact that George died before he was able to release "one more great body of work, full of earnest prose and social commentary".