Sting says he still misses George Michael: “We should have helped him more”

Later this month, we’ll mark the fifth anniversary of the tragic death of George Michael, who passed way on Christmas Day 2016 at the age of 53. Now, one of his famous friends is expressing regret at not doing enough to prevent his death.

Speaking with Apple Music, Sting tells Zane Lowe of his late pal, “You wonder where that immense talent would’ve developed. What would he be doing now? And it’s with such sadness that I think of George, because he had such potential and died far too young.”

Sting adds, “And he was a lovely, lovely man. I just miss him. I just miss him. I wish we could have helped him more. I think he was lonely and we should have helped him more.”

Sting and George were both huge pop stars in the ’80s, and sang together on the Band Aid single “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” Over the years, they collaborated onstage, and George covered Sting’s classic Police hit “Roxanne” on his 1999 album Songs from the Last Century.

In 2017, Sting dedicated his song “Fragile” to George and two other icons who left us too early: David Bowie and Prince.

Speaking about his friendships with other artists, Sting told Lowe that many of them came about thanks to the massive charity events that were so popular in the ’80s.

“Events like Live Aid or the Amnesty Tour forced us to share space, to share dressing rooms, to share the stage, to share the limelight, to share airplane journeys together,” he explains. “And some of those friendships that were forged then — for example, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen…Tracy Chapman — those friendships are solid to this day because of that. We recognized our own situation in those other people. We didn’t feel isolated.”