George Michael died of natural causes: coroner
LONDON — George Michael died of natural causes as the result of heart disease and a fatty liver, a British coroner said Tuesday.
Darren Salter, senior coroner for the county of Oxfordshire in southern England, said an autopsy has found that the singer died of “dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.”
Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the left ventricle of the heart becomes stretched and weakened, limiting the heart’s ability to pump blood. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.
The former Wham! singer-songwriter was found dead at his country home in Oxfordshire on Dec. 25. He was 53.
An initial autopsy failed to determine the cause of death for the star, who had battled health problems and drug addiction. Salter said that because Michael died of natural causes, there will be no coroner’s inquest or further inquiries. In Britain, inquests are held to determine the facts of unexplained deaths.
Police initially investigated and took witness statements in order to establish the facts surrounding Michael’s death, which they called “unexplained but non-suspicious.”
Wham!, formed by Michael and his friend Andrew Ridgeley, topped charts in the 1980s with exuberant pop hits including “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Young Guns (Go For It)” and “Freedom.” Michael went on to a solo career studded with major hits including “Careless Whisper” and “Faith” and sold more than 100 million albums around the world.
He suffered problems with drugs and alcohol, however, and in 2010 was briefly jailed after crashing his Range Rover into a shop front near his London home while high on prescription drugs and marijuana.
Michael had experienced health problems including a bout of pneumonia in 2011 that saw him hospitalized in intensive care.