The guitar George Michael played in the “Faith” video sells for one and a half times its estimate
The 1945 instrument fetched £180,000 at auction. The same day saw the release of “Faith” recorded live in Paris in 1988, part of an archive album coming out in November.
George Michael during the Faith tour, 1988
The guitar George Michael played in the 1987 video for Faith sold on 29 October at the Sworders auction house in Essex, England, for £180,000. The pre-sale estimate was £60,000–£120,000.
The result of the sale was published on the Sworders auction house website.
It is a Gretsch Synchromatic 160 acoustic guitar from around 1945, serial number 281. It was sold together with its original case bearing the words “Rockabilly Rebel” and a strap. The instrument has been professionally restored and cleaned, its neck binding replaced and new strings fitted — the original strings have been kept.
The top lot of the sale
The guitar was the headline lot of the Faith & Fame: A Personal George Michael Collection sale, which featured 32 lots. The items came from the archive of Siobhan Bailey, who worked as the singer's assistant for many years, going back to the days of Wham!. Other lots included a signed sleeve of the Queen EP Five Live, which went for £7,000, and a Wham! gold disc for Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, which fetched £4,500.
This is the second item from the same video to go under the hammer for a six-figure sum this year. In the spring Propstore sold the La Rocka leather jacket George Michael wore in Faith and on stage during the tour, for £176,400.
“Faith” live on stage
The same day, 29 October, the singer's official channel released the live Faith (Live in Paris, 1988). It is the third track from the archive album The Faith Tour, out on 6 November, which features 18 previously unreleased live recordings. It was preceded by live versions of Father Figure and Careless Whisper.
The recordings come from the concert film of the same name. It was shot over two nights in 1988 at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy on 35mm film with 14 cameras, directed by Andy Morahan and David Austin. The footage was long thought lost; it has now been restored, and the film opens in cinemas on 4 November. George Michael is a constant on our airwaves: over the past month we have played him 45 times, mostly in club mixes.
This summer Pet Shop Boys also returned to the big screen: Neil Tennant presented a double bill of the band's films in his hometown of Newcastle.
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