In a year of shocking deaths in the entertainment world, this stands out:  Singer George Michael, who sold more than 100 million albums over a four decade long career, is dead at age 53.

"It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period," read a statement from his manager Michael Lippman.  "The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage."

Mr. Lippman said that George Michael died peacefully at his home on Christmas Day.  Police and emergency medical technicians arrived at the singer's home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire just before 2:00 PM local time on Christmas Day.  Investigators consider the death unexplained but said there were no suspicious circumstances; several news outlets were reporting he died of heart failure.

Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in 1963 to Cypriot Greek parents in London, George Michael launched his career in the 1980s with partner Andrew Ridgeway in the duo Wham!.  They scored huge hits with "Wake Me Up Before You Go", "Careless Whisper", "I'm Your Man", "Freedom", and "Last Christmas".  After the group split, Michael's run continued with chart busters like "Faith", "Father Figure", "I Want Your Sex", and "Monkey".  He also collaborated with Elton John on a remake of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" in 1991 and with the surviving members of Queen on "Somebody To Love".

But the road got rocky in the late 1990s, beginning with his arrest in a Los Angeles public toilet in 1998 - the episode that led him to come out of the closet and live as an openly gay man, releasing a single "Outside" which poked fun at his troubles, the last of his major chart successes.  His last album was released in 2004; that was followed a series of arrests for drugs and driving offenses. 

George Michael was getting his career back on track when he died; he was working with producer Naughty Boy on a new album, and planned to release a documentary in 2017.

This is the music industry's latest loss in a mind-numbing barrage that began a year ago with the death of Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister just after Christmas 2015.  Since them we've lost: David Bowie; Glenn Frey of The Eagles; Prince; Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship; Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire; The Beatles' producer Sir George Martin; Keith Emerson and Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer; Frank Sinatra, Jr.; Merle Haggard, "Memphis" man Lonnie Mack; soul's Billy Paul; Dead or Alive's Pete Burns; Leonard Cohen; pianist Leon Russell; and Status Quo's Rick Parfitt.

The world Sport lost Muhammad Ali; pioneering astronaut John Glenn died this year, as did author Harper Lee; Hollywood deaths included Alan Rickman, Robin Williams, Star Trek's Adam Yelchin, Caroline Aherne, Garry Shandling, Gene Wilder and Florence Henderson.