【Sex in the Game (2017)】

"Loosen up. Swing,Sex in the Game (2017) man."

Frank Sinatra had some very Frank Sinatra-like advice for a young George Michael, who had complained about fame in a 1990 interview with the Los Angeles Times' Calendarmagazine.

After George Michael's death, reported on Christmas day, people are sharing this open letter from Ol' Blue Eyes. It was printed in the same magazine a week after the interview. At the time, Michael was struggling under the weight of public expectations for his sophomore album, "Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1."

Under this pressure, then 27-year-old Michael wanted to stay out of the limelight. He only agreed to do three interviews in the U.S., the LA Timesbeing one of them. He even refused to have his photo taken for the article.

In the interview, Michael addressed criticism that his shying away from the media was a gimmick.

"But I'm also sure that most people find it hard to believe that stardom can make you miserable. After all, everybody wants to be a star. I certainly did, and I worked hard to get it. But I was miserable, and I don't want to feel that way again," he said.

Sinatra certainly knew a thing or two about fame, and its struggles. He announced his retirement in 1971, only to go on after a hiatus and play 1,000 more shows. Sinatra died in 1998 at age 82.

Here's the letter, from the excellent @LettersofNote Twitter account.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The full text:

FRANK SINATRA

September 9, 1990

Dear Friends,

When I saw your Calendar cover today about George Michael, "the reluctant pop star," my first reaction was he should thank the good Lord every morning when he wakes up to have all that he has., And that'll make two of us thanking God every morning for all that we have.

I don't understand a guy who lives "in hopes of reducing the strain of his celebrity status." Here's a kid who "wanted to be a pop star since I was about 7 years old." And now that he's a smash performer and songwriter at 27 he wants to quit doing what tons of gifted youngsters all over the world would shoot grandma for - just one crack at what he's complaining about.

Come on George, Loosen up. Swing, man, Dust off those gossamer wings and fly yourself to the moon of your choice and be grateful to carry the baggage we've all had to carry since those lean nights of sleeping on buses and helping the driver unload the instruments

And no more of that talk about "the tragedy of fame." The tragedy of fame is when no one shows up and you're singing to the cleaning lady in some empty joint that hasn't seen a paying customer since Saint Swithin's day. And you're nowhere near that; you're top dog on the top rung of a tall ladder called Stardom, which in latin means thanks-to-the-fans who were there when it was lonely.

Talent must not be wasted. Those who have it - and you obviously do or today's Calendar cover article would have been about Rudy Vallee - those who have talent must hug it, embrace it, nurture it and share it lest it be taken away from you as fast as it was loaned to you.

Trust me. I've been there.

(Signed, 'Frank Sinatra')

© 1990 Frank Sinatra

George Michael must have taken this advice to heart. While Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1indeed didn't sell as many copies as his first solo album, Faith-- it performed extremely well in the UK. He persevered despite legal and personal troubles in the '90s, to have a decades-long career.

The LA Timesinterview is well worth reading, if you're interested in knowing more about the era. In it we see how Michael correctly anticipated that music videos and touring was the way to success, and that's how he and Wham! conquered America.

The article also explains the star's struggle to be seen as a serious songwriter after finding such smash success as a "teenybopper."

R.I.P., George Michael.