George Michael's new album will be a 'gay collaborative' I let gay children down
George Michael: 'My behaviour meant these kids suffered abuse and the homophobic language that is legal in this country.' Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
George Michael has said he finds it hard to forgive himself for the damage he believes his public disgraces have had on young, gay people seeking to be open and proud about their sexuality.
In what he says is a gesture of penance and remorse, the singer has started work on a new album that will be a "gay collaborative", featuring young, unknown gay and "gay-friendly" artists.
"I have a really serious problem with the fact that when I brought myself down, I felt I was letting young gay kids down," he said at a press conference to announce a European tour. "My behaviour meant these kids suffered abuse and the homophobic language that is legal in this country.
"My next album will seek to correct the damage I inadvertently caused by making myself so newsworthy and, because I am so high-profile, leaving no room for young kids to protect themselves from that language," he added. "I have plans to do this to help gay children. We're notoriously bad as a community in helping children, because we don't have our own children."
Michael, who has been in a long-term relationship with Kenny Goss since 1996, only admitted his homosexuality in 1998, after he was arrested for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet in a park in Beverly Hills, California.
After being accused of engaging in a sexual act in public in 2006, this time on Hampstead Heath in north London, Michael admitted that he openly cruises for sex. He said this was not an issue in his relationship with Goss.
Michael has also been repeatedly arrested for possession of cannabis. In a 2009 interview with the Guardian, he said he had cut down on his habit, to only "seven or eight" spliffs a day instead of the previous 25.
In 2010, he crashed into a shop front in Hampstead. He was charged with possession of cannabis and "driving while unfit", and sentenced to eight weeks in prison, a fine and a five-year driving ban.
Looking fit, tanned and healthy, Michael announced that he was returning to the stage for a 47-date tour beginning in Prague on 22 August.
In the gaps between the four-month tour, Michael said he would work on the album, gathering together a collective of gay artists, "preferably discovering those who are as yet unknown".
"I feel re-energised after some of my latest troubles," he said. "In terms of recovering from a very long period of grief and self-abuse, and in terms of staying on the straight and narrow, there's nothing like touring. It gives me the impetus to take care of myself and approve of myself.
Michael said the tour would feature reinterpreted songs that are personal favourites of his, sung against the backdrop of a live symphony orchestra.
"Once ego has been satisfied – and my ego has certainly been satisfied: I'm no longer worried about chart success – you can concentrate on authenticity, which means more honesty, more of myself," he said. "This tour will be very different from what people are expecting. It'll be more honest.
"I have been working with some of my favourite albums that are not what anyone would expect of me or have expected to influence me."
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