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Adam Lambert surprised viewers by joining the George Michael tribute at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards.
Sombr, Teddy Swims and RAYE had been announced for the performance at Sunday night’s ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The tribute celebrated the British musician, who died in 2016 at age 53.
Introducing the segment, Orville Peck said, “George Michael was a pop god. He became an international superstar at only 19, writing and producing hit after hit, ruling the charts and paving the way for so many of us.”
“His music and videos were timeless anthems and powerful statements against the establishment. (1987 song) I Want Your Sex was so raw that MTV ran a disclaimer in front of it. Freedom! '90 catapulted the era of the supermodel and the iconic outside was a reclamation of his own narrative.”
Sombr, whose real name is Shane Boose, opened with Faith and Father Figure, both from 1987. RAYE, born Rachel Keen, then sang I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), George’s 1987 duet with Aretha Franklin.
Teddy Swims, whose real name is Jaten Dimsdale, performed 1984’s Careless Whisper. Lambert followed with Freedom! ’90, joined by MEEK, MNEK and Saint Harison.
George received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1989.
A live album titled George Michael: The Faith Tour is due in November. A film with the same title is scheduled to reach cinemas in December.
The ceremony also paid tribute to Dolly Parton. In a recording made ahead of the show, Kacey Musgraves sang Parton’s 1973 song I Will Always Love You.
The country star died last month at age 80.
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Mark E Smith’s fiancée and final manager has criticised The Fall’s upcoming “final” album, ‘Post Script’, calling it a “cash grab” and “ethically wrong”.
The nine song record arrives through Cog Sinister on October 2. It features unused vocals Smith recorded in the studio between 2001 and 2014, with former Fall members and longtime collaborators Ed Blaney and Simon “Ding” Archer adding new music after his death.
When ‘Post Script’ was announced in June, reports suggested the recordings came from an album The Fall had been working on before Smith died in January 2018.
Pamela Vander has since told The Guardian that Smith recorded none of the vocals after the release of ‘New Facts Emerge’ in 2017. She says he had chosen that record to be The Fall’s last album.
“They’re selling it as ‘the final album’ so people will think Mark made it on his deathbed, but none of it [vocally] was made after ‘New Facts Emerge’,” she said.
“I have Mark’s actual last recordings – he was working on a cover of Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ – but by the time of his death he had made the decision that ‘New Facts Emerge’ was the final album, made by the longest-lasting line-up of The Fall, who were with Mark for 10 years.
“So I don’t think anyone else should override a decision he made when he was alive.”
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