George Michael's top quotes on life, music and sexuality

Award-winning British singer and songwriter George Michael died at the age of 53 on Christmas Day. The Wham! frontman reportedly "passed away peacefully" at his Oxfordshire home.

During his entire music career, which spans over three decades, the singer sold more than 100 million records. The Careless Whisper singer, whose original name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, battled with a number of controversies including drug and alcohol addictions. In 2010, he received an eight-week prison sentence for driving under the influence of drugs.

IBTimes UK has compiled a list of the Michael's greatest quotes on music, fame, life and stardom.

On Music - "I still believe that music is one of the greatest gifts that God gave to man."

On stardom - "There is no such thing as a reluctant star. Stars are almost always people that want to make up for their own weaknesses by being loved by the public and I'm no exception to that. "

On freedom of expression - "It's important to me that I should be free to express myself.

On his sexuality - "I want to say that I have no problem with people knowing that I'm in a relationship with a man right now. ... I don't feel any shame. I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way. But I don't feel any shame whatsoever.

On pop music- "I never minded being thought of as a pop star. People have always thought I wanted to be seen as a serious musician, but I didn't, I just wanted people to know that I was absolutely serious about pop music."

On his fans - "I have the audience I deserve. Or at least I have the audience that represents the kind of people that I like."

On secrets - "Celebrity and secrets don't go together. The bastards will get you in the end."

On his heritage - "I have never felt any ethnic connection between the Greeks and me other than how hairy I am."

On playing live - "You can't imagine what it's like playing to people who have been loyal to you for 25 years and haven't seen you for 15."

On charity - "Even though it's become a really cliched thing to see musicians working for charity, it's still effective and it still has to be done."

On the use of marijuana - I'd say it's a great drug - but obviously it's not very healthy. You can't afford to smoke it if you've got anything else to do. It can be a terrible, terrible drug. You've got to be in the right position to take it. You've got to have achieved most of your ambitions because it chills you out to such a degree that you could lose your ambitions.