George Michael dead: Fans mourn with poignant plays of ‘Last Christmas’

He died on a day when many will have been playing his music

George Michael has died at the age of 53, it was announced yesterday, passing away “peacefully at home over the Christmas period”.

The singer, who had plans to release a documentary in 2017, is thought to have suffered from heart failure.

Though he had many hits in his own right (‘Freedom’, ‘Faith’ etc), he will probably be best known for - and live on through - his perennial Wham! hit ‘Last Christmas’, which is blasted during the festive period each year and will be for the foreseeable future.

Legions of fans played the song, which Michael wrote when he was 21, to pay tribute to him, it taking on a new poignancy as 2016 (that relentless series of misery) was indeed his last Christmas.

“#LastChristmas was playing loudly at my family Christmas gathering as it does every year, and will continue to do every Christmas to come…” Dannii Minogue wrote on Twitter, with another user adding: “Sad news about George Michael but kind of fitting that he died on a day when many will have been playing one of his classics.”‘

Last Christmas’ went platinum in several countries and has been covered by hosts of artists, from Ariana Grande to Jimmy Eat World.

Prior to his death (though it doesn’t mean these projects won’t go ahead posthumously), Michael's 1990 album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 had been set to be reissued accompanied by a new film featuring Stevie Wonder, Elton John and the supermodels who starred in the video to his hit single Freedom! '90.

The movie, with the working title Freedom: George Michael, was to be narrated by Michael and set to feature Mark Ronson, Mary J Blige, Tony Bennett, Liam Gallagher, James Corden and Ricky Gervais.