Teddy Swims took the brunt of fans’ frustration as he, Raye, Sombr and Adam Lambert offered a multi-hit tribute to George Michael as we near the tenth anniversary of his death
George Michael fans were left totally unimpressed by a star-studded tribute medley in the legendary singer’s honour at the VMAs last night.
This Christmas will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of the music great, and with it now being 40 years since his landmark Faith album, the time was right to give him an electrifying nod at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
The trio of Raye, Sombr, Teddy Swims as well as surprise guest Adam Lambert signed up to perform a multi-hit tribute and big things were expected. Sombr opened the homage with George’s famous leather pants and open jacket showing off his torso, before twice-nominated Raye’s arrived and things turned gospel with I Knew You Were Waiting For Me, Michael’s 1986 hit with Aretha Franklin.
Teddy then ramped things up with his performance at Careless Whisper before Adam brought the tribute to a close by belting out Freedom! with photos of Michael rising above the stage throughout the extravaganza.
But as the stars took the applause, many watching at home didn’t seem in agreement with the fans inside the arena with Bad Dreams hitmaker Teddy taking the brunt of the criticism.
One raged: “Teddy Swims killed George Michael all over again. What a miss. Adam Lambert should have handled the whole damn tribute, though Raye & Sombr acquitted themselves admirably.”
Another wrote: “Think Teddy Swims connected well with the song’s tale, but his voice couldn’t do some of the highlights George did.”
He wasn’t the only target and another comment read: “Sombr was so bad I’d rather listen to myself sing.”
A fourth person complained: “It was awful. Adam saved it. I don’t know who that skinny dude was but he sucked.”
The MTV VMAs also featured another special tribute as Dolly Parton was honoured following her death late last month. Country star Kacey Musgraves performed the classic hit I Will Always Love You with the performance was introduced by Dolly herself.
A video played to the audience showed the late singer saying: “I’d like to leave you fellas with a little bit of advice.
On December 25 2016, the Wham! singer’s death made headlines around the world following the news George had died suddenly at the age of 53.
On Christmas morning, the icon’s partner Fadi Fawaz. went to wake up George at his home home in Goring-on Thames but instead found his lifeless body in bed.
In a statement at the time, Fadi said: “We were supposed to be going for Christmas lunch. I went round there to wake him up and he was just gone, lying peacefully in bed. We don’t know what happened yet. Everything had been very complicated recently, but George was looking forward to Christmas, and so was I.”
George’s death was initially recorded as unexplained but not suspicious by police after an initial post mortem came back as inconclusive. It wasn’t until weeks later in March that George’s friends and family finally got to lay the singer to rest when the official finding into his cause of death were delayed while the coroner examined the toxicology test results.
At the hearing in March, a coroner ruled that George died of natural causes from dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle, which causes the muscle to become stretched and thin over time, which affects how blood can be pumped around the body.
In some cases, it can be an inherited disease, but other causes of dilated cardiomyopathy include viral infections, uncontrolled high blood pressure, excessive drinking or existing problems with the heart valves.
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