George Michael’s levels of perfectionism in the studio are well-documented - depending on who you believe, he tried either nine or 11 different sax players on the recording of Careless Whisper - and now one of his former backing singers has been discussing why she thinks she was able to join the exclusive club of vocalists who were allowed to record with him.
Speaking to the Express, Jo Garland said: "He was very particular on vocal sound. There was a particular tone that he liked, which is why myself and Shirley Lewis are the only two vocalists that have ever recorded in the studio with him, because he just - there's a particular tone that he likes, which complements his and, basically, we sort of sound like him. We were girly versions of George.”
Garland first got to know George in the early ‘90s, when she was signed to Aegean, his record label. She was then invited to sing on the sessions for what would become Older, Michael’s third solo studio album, which was released in 1996.
"I think my scariest moment, sort of pressurised, was recording Fastlove, because that was my first ever recording session with him as a backing vocalist,” says Garland.
"Prior to that, we'd been working together, working together on my music, and we'd been in the studio for a good year, working very closely together on my music so I was very comfortable about doing that at that stage.
"But this was a whole new baby. I was like, 'oh my God, I'm actually doing backing vocals for him now,' and funnily enough, the particular part that I did was the ‘Sending You Forget Me Nots’ sample. That was originally sung by Patrice Rushen and she's my biggest, biggest idol, and, funnily enough, she was George's idol as well.”
The interpolation of Forget Me Nots appears towards the end of Fastlove and, in 2022, producer Johnny Douglas told us that Michael’s decision to include it in the song came frustratingly late in the day.
“When he said he wanted to go into Forget Me Nots, I couldn’t understand what he was on about at first,” he says. “We thought it was finished, and then he came in and trashed it with that idea. I was a bit gutted! I thought, ‘you’re trashing it, WTF! Please let me finish this record!’. But it kinda taught me to craft away and to work on stuff and if you think of an idea don’t just go, ‘oh, I can’t be arsed.’”
And, as Douglas confirms, the nod to Patrice Rushen required re-recording rather than sampling.
“For the Forget Me Nots section, it took a lot of ninja-listening to the original record to figure out exactly how to blend three different samples together to reproduce the part,” remembers Douglas. “A lot of people think that section has a sample of Forget Me Nots in it, but it doesn’t - the only elements we really borrowed were the bassline and the vocal hook, all of which we redid.”
Jo Garland, meanwhile, would go on to appear on George Michael’s MTV Unplugged and Patience albums, and is now heading out on the road with Shirley Lewis and Jay Henry to perform as The George Michael singers. Shows will feature both music and stories, and tickets are available now on the George Michael Singers website.
