Adele says George Michael’s family only wanted her to do a musical tribute for him.
The ‘Careless Whisper’ hitmaker passed away on December 25 last year and was honoured by the ‘Hello’ singer at the Grammy Awards last week, something which the family had initially turned down but gave their approval once Adele told them she would perform.
She said: ”I was devastated [when he died], I had to go for a walk on my own and on Boxing Day I said to Simon, my partner, I have to do that tribute.
”They didn’t want a tribute at first – his family and camp – and they came back and were very specific that it be me. I said, ‘Great, I have got something in the pipeline. If you want me to do it, I will do it.”’
For the tribute, Adele chose to sing a jazz version of George’s track ‘Fast Love’ and the songstress recalls thinking how ”f***ing hot” George looked in the video.
She shared: ”When the video came out, I was blown away by how f***ing hot he was. It is exceptional how good looking he was.”
And the 28-year-old singer paid tribute to ”one of the truest icons”.
She told the Sunday People: ”I found him one of the truest icons, because when people are that famous there is not fakeness in a bad way but they put on an alter ego to protect themselves, and rightly so. I understand and appreciate that.”
Adele was visibly upset by her memories of George as she took to the Grammys stage to perform the tribute.
There were technical issues at the start of her performance and Adele quickly stopped the track and asked to start again as she didn’t want to ”mess this up for him”.
She told the crowd and the millions of viewers who had tuned in: ”I’m sorry for swearing and I’m sorry for starting again. I can’t mess this up for him. I’m sorry, I can’t.”