bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Associated Press

Singer George Michael died of natural causes as the result of heart disease and a fatty liver, a British coroner said Tuesday.
Darren Salter, senior coroner for the county of Oxfordshire in southern England, said a post-mortem has found that the singer died on Christmas Day of “dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.”
Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the left ventricle of the heart becomes stretched and weakened, limiting the heart’s ability to pump blood. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.
The former Wham! singer-songwriter was found dead at his country home in Oxfordshire on December 25. He was 53.
An initial autopsy had failed to determine the cause of death.
Salter said that because Michael died of natural causes, there will be no coroner’s inquest or further inquiries.
Police initially investigated and took witness statements in order to establish facts Michael’s death, which they called “unexplained but non-suspicious.”
Wham!, formed by Michael and his friend Andrew Ridgeley, topped charts in the 1980s with exuberant pop hits including Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Young Guns (Go For It). Michael went on to a solo career studded with major hits including Careless Whisper and Freedom and sold more than 100 million albums around the world.
He also suffered problems with drugs and alcohol, and in 2010 was briefly jailed after crashing his Range Rover into a shop front near his London home while high on prescription drugs and marijuana.
Michael had experienced health problems including a bout of pneumonia in 2011 that saw him hospitalised in intensive care. He said later it had been “touch and go” whether he would survive.
Michael’s former partner, Kenny Goss, has said he thinks the musician’s body “just gave up.”
Dilated cardiomyopathy can be an inherited condition, or can be caused by factors such as viral infections and high blood pressure. Myocarditis is usually caused by a viral, bacterial or fungal infection, while fatty liver disease can be caused by alcohol, or by other factors that cause a buildup of fat in the liver.


Singer George Michael died of natural causes, British coroner says

George Michael during a concert at the Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Photo: EPA

News

World

Europe