George Michael sings jaw-dropping version of ‘This Little Light of Mine’ in rare backstage video
12 May 2022, 14:30 | Updated: 8 July 2022, 12:31
A video of George Michael singing 'This Little Light of Mine' while he claps and dances with his backing singers gives a beautiful insight into the star's relationship with his closest band members.
The clip sees George Michael singing alongside his four female vocalists, as he prepares to go on stage during his massive 25 Live Tour.
Singers Shirley Lewis – who was married to Bros star Luke Goss – Lucy Jules, Sharon Perry and Lory Perry joined the Wham! Star for a warm-up backstage in his dressing room.
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The video sees the ensemble launch into a stunning version of ‘This Little Light of Mine’, complete with George clapping, laughing and performing ‘jazz hands’ to the ceiling.
The song then speeds up, with all five singers in perfect harmony as they sing ‘Amen’ and raise their hands before the clip changes to them all laughing as they finish singing.
Standing in a circle, George then announces to the group that when they sing ‘Amen’, “it suddenly starts to sound like ‘Hey Men’”, causing the women to all fall about laughing.
The video was shot during George Michael’s 25 Live, an incredible 106 date world tour from 2006 to 2008 which saw George perform in stadiums across the world from Moscow and Helsinki to New York, Sydney and Abu Dhabi.
Shirley Lewis, who split from Luke Goss in 2020 after 33 years of marriage and joined George on the tour, was George Michael’s number one female vocalist – her distinctive voice can be heard on ‘Father Figure’ and ‘Freedom’ and she is the only female on George’s smash-hit 1987 album, Faith.
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Shirley recalls the 25 Live Tour fondly and recently spoke of the atmosphere backstage: “On the 25 Live Tour, we had the girl backup singers which included me, Lori Perry, Sharon Perry, and Lucy Jules.
"Our dressing room was always located next to George’s room. We always had so much fun and George would always tell us that he could hear us laughing and having a good time,” she told SimplyAmazingLiving.com in 2021.
“We had this pre-concert ritual where we would have everyone in the band come to our room and take a silly group picture before going onstage to perform. We kept the pictures from each show and placed them on the walls of our dressing room.
“One night we were making so much noise that George came over and asked what we were doing and why wasn’t he invited? We honestly told him that we didn’t think he would want to do it as you had to make a really silly face and your picture would be put on the wall for everyone to see,” she recalled.
“He surprised us all and said he wanted to be in the photos as well, and he did it! It was really funny as he knew the band had been doing these photos for like weeks and he wanted to be in on the fun!”
George Michael’s first tour in 15 years, 25 Live was the most commercially successful tour of 2006–2007 in Europe, grossing over $200 million.
The last two shows in London at Earl’s Court towards the very end of the tour in June 2008 were filmed for a special 25 LIVE DVD release, Live in London, and featured special performances of ‘Careless Whisper’, ‘Jesus To a Child’, ‘Faith’ and a stunning version of Ewan MacColl’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’.