Exactly one year and two days before she left the Spice Girls, a very excited Geri Halliwell introduced George Michael on a 1997 Top of the Pops episode. It marked Michael’s first appearance on the show in over 11 years, and the start of a close friendship between the two British icons. After Michael passed away last Christmas, Geri Horner — as the former Spice Girl is now known — named her newborn son Montague George Hector Horner in the Wham! singer’s honor. Now Horner has announced a special tribute single for her late friend. “Angels in Chains” is out June 23, two days before what would have been Michael’s 54th birthday, with profits going to Childline. The song will be Horner’s first global music release in 12 years.
“I didn’t know what to do because George wasn’t my immediate family,” Horner told ITV’s Lorraine of the rough mourning period following George’s death, and the decision to channel her emotion into something positive. “I was a friend and a fan and he had such an impact on my life. I didn’t know what to do with all my feelings. So just wrote a song and submitted to record company. They wanted to release it. I was so scared for so many reasons particularly because it’s vulnerable and it’s about George. What would people think?”
Horner not-so-subtly teased the announcement on Instagram over the weekend, posting a photo of herself with Baby Monty George and a Katherine Hamnett “Choose Life” t-shirt. This isn’t the only news Michael’s many fans can get psyched about either: the “Faith” and “Freedom 90” singer is also posthumously narrating a special Freedom documentary.
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Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Instagram