Five years after his death, George Michael’s headstone is finally unveiled

Five years after his death on Christmas Day 2016 at age 53, George Michael‘s grave is now officially marked.

The British tabloid The Sun reports that the superstar’s headstone has finally been unveiled in London’s Highgate Ceremony. It’s inscribed with his birth name, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, and reads “Beloved Son, Brother, Friend.”

George lies next to his mother Lesley, who died in 1997 and his sister Melanie, who died at age 59 in 2019, three years to the day after George died.

As for why it took five years for the grave to be marked, a source tells The Sun there were “fears it would become a morbid tourist attraction.”

In other George Michael news, during his lifetime, the singer anonymously funded the annual Christmas lights display in the Highgate neighborhood of London, and it’s now been revealed that his estate still contributes to the annual display, according to the local paper.

“George Michael was our secret benefactor form many years and he loved the Christmas Lights,” a local realtor told the paper. “Luckily, his estate also know how much he loved the lights and continue to support us even after his death.”

Finally, a tribute show called The Life and Music of George Michael is scheduled to begin a U.S. tour on January 19 in California.