Unheard George Michael material could yet see the light of day. The late star only released five solo albums, but lifelong friend and occasional songwriting partner David Austin confirmed more music is in existence: “There are recordings, I won’t go into it too much, but there are a few recordings that are extraordinary pieces of writing. Extraordinary. They are finished, mastered, mixed and sitting there.”
However, Austin poured scorn on a number of mythical Michael albums that fans hoped may materialise. One is Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2 — originally planned to include Too Funky and Fantasy, among others. “That was an early thought back in the day that didn’t materialise and got lost into the ether.”
The same goes for an album called The Trojan Souls – featuring artists such as Elton John, Seal and Sade recording new George songs. “Trojan Souls doesn’t exist; it never existed. It was a recording made back in the day. We had copies of the multi-tracks, but the masters went missing, which is why they always leak on the internet. The Trojan Souls thing will never happen. It was an idea after the Sony court case – George went on the Cover To Cover Tour, he decided he wasn’t going to write for himself, he was going to write for other people.”