<p>George Michael will be inducted into the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/2023-rock-roll-hall-fame-nominees-received-nom-1st-year-eligibility.html/”>Rock & Roll Hall of Fame</a> on the 40th anniversary of Wham’s first album. Michael burst onto the music scene in the early 1980s – years before his <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/vanderpump-rules-james-kennedys-father-and-george-michael-were-old-friends-he-was-just-uncle-george.html/”>godson, James Kennedy</a> from <em><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/vanderpump-rules/”>Vanderpump Rules</a></em> was born. </p>
<p>Michael and Kennedy’s father Andros Georgiou were close friends and later business partners. While Michael was still with Wham, Georgiou was building his own music label. Eventually, Michael launched Aegean Records and made Georgiou his managing director.</p>
<h2 id=”h-james-kennedy-knew-george-michael-as-uncle-george”>James Kennedy knew George Michael as ‘Uncle George’</h2>
<p>Georgiou recounted how close Michael was with his family and Kennedy from birth. “When I married Jackie [Andros’ wife and James’ mom], I told her, ‘[George] comes first. My kids are his kids and he’ll be in the delivery room with us’ and he was,” Georgiou told The Sun. “When my son James was born in January 1992, Yog [ a nickname he gave George Michael] and I gave him his first bath.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full”><img decoding=”async” loading=”lazy” width=”3000″ height=”3000″ src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?strip=all&quality=89″ alt=”George Michael performs at the MTV awards. James Kennedy stopped by ‘WWHL'” class=”wp-image-3492091″ srcset=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg 3000w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=500&h=500 500w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=768&h=768 768w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=1024&h=1024 1024w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=1536&h=1536 1536w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=2048&h=2048 2048w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=1200&h=1200 1200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=60&h=60 60w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=96&h=96 96w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-michael-james-kennedy.jpg?w=150&h=150 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px”><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>George Michael and James Kennedy |Mick Hutson/Redferns/Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p>Even though Michael was a huge pop star, Kennedy just knew him as “Uncle George.” Kennedy went on to launch a successful career as a DJ and recording artist but said Michael never really gave him music advice.</p>
<p>“You know he was just Uncle George, really,” he said on <em><a href=”https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/james-kennedy-on-george-michael-inheritance-rumors” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen</a></em> shortly after Michael’s death. “He didn’t really give me advice. I was very young. I wasn’t into music yet.”</p>
<p>Kennedy added, “I was like a baby. He was just Uncle George and [he’d] pop me on his lap and stuff like that. I knew he was a singer like, ‘Uncle George is a singer.’ It’s not like I didn’t [know] who he was at the time.”</p>
<h2 id=”h-lisa-vanderpump-had-a-6-degrees-connection-to-george-michael”>Lisa Vanderpump had a ‘6 degrees’ connection to George Michael </h2>
<p>Kennedy began his stateside career as a busboy at Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant SUR. He worked his way up to being a DJ at the restaurant but often got in trouble for his extremely messy behavior. Vanderpump fired Kennedy (more than once) but always gave him another chance to redeem himself. </p>
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<div class=”jetpack-video-wrapper”><iframe loading=”lazy” title=”Lisa Vanderpump Fires James Kennedy! | Vanderpump Rules Season 7 | Bravo” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/RAvKTnk8u-U?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
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‘Vanderpump Rules’: James Kennedy Could Be Planning ‘Revenge’ Track With Ariana Madix [Exclusive] </a>
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<p>She has a soft spot in her heart for Kennedy because she has a connection to his parents, meeting them along with Michael. “I met James’ parents through Bruno Tonioli a few years ago just before he started to work for us. [Tonioli is] the judge on <em>Dancing with the Stars</em>, who’s an old friend of mine,” she recounted on Bravo’s <em>The Daily Dish</em> podcast. “Prior to that, I had met Andros, and Ken knew Andros vaguely. I’d met Andros with George Michael, and Andros had been around the scene in London, so we knew him a little bit.”</p>
<p>Vanderpump revealed how Kennedy ended up working at SUR. “But then we had dinner that night, and they both said, you know, could you give one of my songs, James, a job, maybe as a busser or a barback?” she said. “He probably, because we’d started <em>Vanderpump Rules</em> by then, I think maybe we were in the first season, thought, ‘OK, I want to get involved in this.’ And, obviously, then he started sleeping with Kristen Doute, and he was well in there like a rat up a drain pipe.”</p>
<h2>George Michael is posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame </h2>
<p>Michael died on December 25, 2016, at age 53. The <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-old-george-michael-died.html/”>cause of death</a> was due to dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver, but was listed as “natural causes.”</p>
<p>Along with six other performers, Michael will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November 2023. <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/James-Kennedy.jpg”></a></p>