Father Figure
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Father Figure is a 1988 song by George Michael , written and produced by him. It was the third single release from the album Faith .
publication
Before the debut solo album Faith was released in late October 1987, two songs had already been released with I Want Your Sex and the title track . When Father Figure was released as the third single in early January 1988, the album had already sold several million times. Accordingly, it was the first song by George Michael that did not make it into the top 10 in the UK sales charts, but also in German-speaking countries. However , it was the singer's third number one hit in the US, where airplay is also included on the Billboard Hot 100 . It was also the second of four number one singles from the Faith album in the US (compare George Michael’s discography ).
Originally, the pop ballad had a dance beat, but when mixing the song, George Michael decided against it.
Music video
At the beginning of the music video, a model leaves a hotel and gets into a taxi. During the taxi ride, photo shoots and catwalk appearances by the model, in which the taxi driver can be seen in the background of the stage, are shown, interrupted by love scenes between the two. A quarrel and an interrupted phone call can also be seen. At the end you can see her performing, the focus is on the taxi driver, who is a spectator, and it ends with a magazine photo of the model that the driver had cut out.
The taxi driver is played by George Michael himself, the model is 21-year-old Tania Harcourt-Cooze (then still Tania Coleridge), who worked for Helmut Newton among others in the 1980s . But she was best known for her music video. As in the Wham days, George Michael worked with the video director Andy Morahan , who is very well known in the pop scene . At the MTV Video Music Awards in 1988 they were jointly awarded for best video director. There were also two other nominations.
The original video also includes an argument in which she is beaten by him. The English broadcasters did not want to show this and banned it into the night program. A version was created for the day's program in which the scene was cut out. At the time, Michael was still being sold as a heartthrob and so after the video was released in the media, an affair between him and Tania Coleridge was constructed. His homosexuality only became public years later.
Cover versions
The following artists have released their own recording of Father Figure :
- 1998: LL Cool J (Father)
- 2002: Kate Schutt
- 2005: Tori Amos
- 2006: Vijay Iyer
- 2006: Ace Young
- 2011: The Brown Derbies
- 2014: Anthony Callea
- 2015: Glee Cast (season 6, episode 5)
- 2016: Noah Guthrie
PM Dawn used a sample from Father Figure for their 1993 top 10 hit Looking Through Patient Eyes .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Sources chart placements: DE AT CH UK US
- ^ George Michael - Father Figure (video description), Totally Fuzzy, accessed November 11, 2016
- ↑ Different Stories, Part 1 - The Father Figure Girl in Remarkable's Buzzin 'Blog, September 4, 2008
- ↑ a b The Girl in the Video: “Father Figure” (1988) , interview with Tania Harcourt-Cooze in Noblemania, July 25, 2014
- ↑ About Andy Morahan on the director's homepage, accessed November 11, 2016
- ↑ George Michael at Rock on the Net, accessed November 11, 2016
- ↑ Father Figure by George Michael, Who Sampled, accessed November 11, 2016
- ↑ 50 random facts about George Michael (see # 36), Asa Butcher, gbtimes, June 25, 2013