Faith [Special Edition]

About Faith [Special Edition]

Faith is the debut studio album by the English singer George Michael, released on 30 October 1987 by Columbia Records and Epic Records. In addition to playing various instruments on the album, Michael wrote and produced every track on the recording except for one, "Look at Your Hands", which he co-wrote with David Austin. A "black" inspired pop-R&B album, Faith's songs include introspective lyrics, which generated controversies about Michael's personal relationships at that time. By 1986, Michael had spent five years as the lead singer of the popular duo Wham! and had grown tired of accusations that the group, which featured his best friend Andrew Ridgeley, was nothing more than a teenybopper group. After the success of Make It Big, Michael had grown weary of continuing the duo, and expressed to Ridgeley the desire that they should split up which eventually happened. Following the split, Michael began to work on songs that would make his first solo album, which would be titled Faith. Faith peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200. It stayed for 51 non-consecutive weeks inside the Billboard 200 top 10, including 12 weeks at number one. It was also the first album by a white solo artist to hit number one on the Billboard Top Black Albums chart. Faith spawned four number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "Faith", "Father Figure", "One More Try", and "Monkey", making Michael the only British male solo artist to have four number one hits from one album on the Billboard Hot 100. Michael embarked on the The Faith Tour to promote Faith in February 1988, opening at Tokyo's Budokan arena, before going on to dates in Australia, Europe and North America. Faith is one of the best-selling albums of all time having sold over 20 million copies worldwide and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1996. The album won several awards, including Album of the Year at the 31st Grammy Awards. Michael won three awards at the 1989 American Music Awards: Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Album for Faith. He was also honoured with the MTV Video Vanguard Award. Often ranked as one of the best albums of the 1980s, Faith was ranked number 472 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time more »