A public auction of George Michael memorabilia scheduled for Thursday has triggered a sharp family dispute. At the center of the controversy is a collection of 32 lots once belonging to Siobhan Bailey, who served as the singer’s dedicated personal assistant for two decades starting in 1984. Joining him in the year Wham! had their first number-one hit with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, bailey began working as Michael’s personal assistant in 1984. She was always honest and straight with him.
The items currently up for sale include a Gretsch Synchromatic guitar that Michael famously played in the 1987 Faith music video. In the 1987 video for Faith, Michael – in ripped blue Levi’s jeans, white T-shirt and black leather biker jacket – strummed the vintage acoustic guitar that he reportedly picked up in a shop in Los Angeles shortly before.
Guitarist magazine has described the instrument as arguably the most famous example of its kind in the world, with auction estimates placing its value between 60,000 and 120,000 pounds. Alongside the guitar, the collection features signed Wham! photographs, personal Filofax entries from the 1988 Faith tour, and various gold and platinum award discs. Michael grew up in Hertfordshire and shot to fame alongside Andrew Ridgeley in pop duo Wham. It has an estimated price tag of between £60,000 and £120,000. A Filofax from the 1988 Faith tour with Siobhan’s handwritten notes and annotations had a guide price of up to £600 and a current bid of £1,750. The instrument had a key role to play in Michael’s reinvention from teen pop idol to serious solo artist. An official Wham! photograph signed “To Siobhan (Special…)”, and an invitation to Ridgeley’s 21st birthday party, other items include a note written “with love and admiration” from Michael and Ridgeley. The auction also includes the gold disc and platinum CD presented to her for sales milestones achieved by Michael’s music. Though she was very modest about it all,” Bailey said, i know she was proud of the various personalised gold and platinum discs she got.
Siobhan Bailey, who died suddenly of natural causes in 2014 at the age of 56, did not leave a registered will. As a result, her estate passed to her estranged husband, Ian Belcher, from whom she was in the process of divorcing at the time of her death. Mr. Belcher is the individual responsible for bringing these items to auction through the house Sworders.
Gerard Bailey, Siobhan’s brother, has voiced strong opposition to the sale, telling that his sister would be horrified to see her cherished possessions sold to the highest bidder. He claims that Siobhan had attempted to draft a will shortly before her passing that would have bequeathed the items to her nieces and nephews. Furthermore, he argued that had she lived just a few weeks longer, Mr. Belcher would no longer have been considered her next of kin. He said, the guitar now going under the hammer was “a gift” to his sister because the singer “thought so much of her”.
In a formal letter sent to Sworders, Gerard Bailey characterized the auction as a profound breach of his sister’s privacy and described the use of her name in the marketing of the lots as disingenuous and unethical. He further accused Mr. Belcher of waiting twelve years after Siobhan’s death to capitalize on her connection to the late pop star, who died in 2016. And profiteering from the items was “egregiously shameful”, he told the auction house that Belcher’s “misuse of my sister’s name” is “frankly dishonourable”. According to she remained his PA for 20 years, and her brother, She avoided the limelight and guarded the pop star’s privacy, despite the attention of tabloid journalists hoping for stories. He accused Belcher of deciding “12 years after my sister’s death to cash in”.
“I think she’d be devastated that something as personal as her Filofax and notes from George are up for grabs. It’s just so tawdry and contrary to how she was,” Gerard Bailey said. He added that his family had hoped the collection would remain preserved within their own circle rather than being dispersed.
While the family maintains that the sale is morally wrong, they acknowledge that Mr. Belcher holds the legal right to dispose of the estate’s assets. Mr. Bailey has requested that the auction either be canceled or, at the very least, rebranded so that it is not marketed in his sister’s name.
Both the auction house, Sworders, and Mr. Belcher declined to provide comment regarding the dispute. Sworders continues to promote the event as a significant collection of memorabilia from the estate of a trusted confidante who stood by George Michael during both the heights of his success and his more challenging periods. He went on to enjoy solo success with hits such as Faith, Careless Whisper, Father Figure, Outside and Fastlove.
