LYCOS RETRIEVER 
George Michael: Sony
built 302 days ago
In outlining his case, Michael's counsel, Mark Cran, said his client had signed up with a recording company at age 18 and had been a prisoner of that action ever since. Mr. Cran described his client, who together with his partner formed the then-struggling pop group Wham!, as "completely unknown" at the time and as "effectively supplicants looking for any contract they could get." What they got, Mr. Cran insisted, was a lifetime commitment to their record company. "This case is not about money," Mr. Cran argued. an agreement which binds George Michael for the whole of his professional career to terms capable of being worked to his substantial disadvantage." In quantifying that disadvantage, Mr. Cran insisted that the profit Sony had made from Mr. Michael was six times what George Michael himself had received.
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After the ordeal with Sony, having Michael stated that he would refuse to release any new material through Epic under his name, he couldn't release the single. David Geffen's US start-up record label signed a deal with Sony to release George from his old contract. The deal gave George the chance to release new music with the new label, along with two greatest hits albums and two new singles with Sony within 1998.
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Having decided to release his new material through a number of labels on a single-by-single basis, Michael found a home at Sony for his new, highly anticipated album Patience. It was released in March 2004 after two popular singles released through Polydor Records. Patience debuted at number one in the UK album charts and number two in Australia.
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In the meantime the expected following album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2, was scrapped for reasons unknown, although possibly due to Michael's frustration with Sony. Among Michael's complaints was that Sony had not fully supported the release of his previous album, resulting in its poor performance in the US as compared to Faith. Sony responded that Michael's refusal to appear in promotional videos had caused the poor response.
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Twentyfive is George Michael's latest greatest hits album, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of his music career. It was released in November 2006 by SonyBMG. It debuted at number-one in the UK.
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After this "failure" a legal struggle with Sony ensued, Michael seeking to end his contract with the label on the grounds of promotional negligence. He lost the suit and ultimately had to buy his way out his situation, immediately signing over to the newly-established music division of Dreamworks; the result was 1996's Older, which saw his popularity diminished even further (again, by major label standards). By 1998 Michael was once again a household name, but this time as a result of an arrest for "engaging in a lewd act": apparently he had been cruising for action in a public toilet and exposed himself to an undercover policeman (ill-advised, perhaps, but a crime?). The incident was lampooned later that year in the video for the single Outside. Somewhat of a recovery to his reputation was made through the release of the covers collection Songs From The Last Century in 1999, and even more with 2004's Patience.
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