According to publicist, George Michael passed away peacefully at home.

The star, who launched his career with Wham! in the 1980s and later continued his success as a solo performer, is said to have "passed away peacefully at home".

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/george-michael-dead-53-reports-231659596.html

Only 53? o0

Holy shit, what a crappy year. I don't get it either, 53 year olds do not "pass away peacefully" unless they are seriously ill or abusing drugs.

Oh my, definitely too young. Requiescat in pace Georgios.

He was a real character who will be sadly missed

My favourite song of his: Wham Rap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsyHQgiem8c

It can happen, but it is an oddity.
Someone I knew died in his early 30s. He had done some drugs in past (nothing too stupid drugs wise), but had kicked that habit.
His daughter found him on the sofa in morning, said to her mother "Daddy's on sofa, not breathing".
Report was that he just stopped breathing whilst he was asleep.

Prince, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and now George Michael... not a great year for music I'd say especially that given the entire bunch, only Leonard Cohen was over the male lifespan average.

A lot of musical genius passed away this year, that's for sure. Their incredible talent will be missed.

Rick Parfitt, Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, the entire Alexandrov Ensemble, Sandy Pearlman, George Martin, Maurice White, Jimmy Bain, Dale Griffin... a lot more then you think.

A not quite complete list from the Fuck2016 Reddit thread:

RIP Bowie, Frey, Rickman, Vigoda, Cole, Griffin, Bradbury, Wogan, White, Mirra, Alaskey, McGarry, Mitchell, Haggerty, Gerson, Wally, Randleman, Boutros-Ghali, Lee, Eco, Slocombe, Bain, Gordon, Kelly, Kennedy, Reagan, Tomlinson, Huffman, Martin, Emerson, Fresh, Sinatra Jr, Daniels, Scrimm, Drake, Andrews, Walker, Ford, English, Dawg, Garigolia, Howard, Cruyff, Shandling, Smyrl, Harrison, Angelica, Cicero, Noble, Duke, Corri, Gillette, Corbett, Hadid, Robertson, Baer, Crow, Bauersfeld, Lampreave, Rayne, Haggard, Davis, Mulligan, Zant, Katayama, Ex Saint Will Smith, Marks, Woodward, Snider, Gest, Mahoney, Anderson, Guilbeau, Thomas, MacKay, Roberts, Elkabetz, Wood, Lyons, Grudziński, Reid, Chyna, Hamilton, Kohn, Prince, many more I skipped since then because of my laziness that I will add soon, Muhammad Ali and Bud Spencer.

I may be reading into this, but the article I read said peacefully and with loved ones, which doesn't indicate suddenly like an overdose.

Completely unexpected. Rest in peace.

Damn. I wasn't exactly a great fan of his, not an artist that meant the world to me like some others who passed away this year, but still I did like some of his songs, and he was awfully young too. Sad news, very sad indeed.

My favourite was Wham Bam I am a man!

I like to sing it just after a shower and in front of my mirror.

...and still 5 days to go.

in the 00s i watched an interview with him and he didn't seem very happy. that's also when he made a video "shoot the dog" - i guess he was referring to george bush? idk. and i heard some flood destroyed a studio of his also at that time. then more recently he gave away the rights to all of his songs. i think he knew he was going to die...

Bowie, Prince and now George. All of my heroes from my life are leaving too soon.

My personal favorite from George: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYAc7gB-0A