George Michael's Faith guitar sells for £180k after auction row

The acoustic guitar George Michael played in his music video for the single Faith has sold for £180,000 at auction, following a public dispute regarding the dispersal of personal memorabilia belonging to the late singer's longtime assistant. According to reporting from BBC News and AOL, the instrument was the centerpiece of an auction featuring more than thirty lots from the collection of Siobhan Bailey, who worked as Michael's personal assistant for two decades. The entire sale generated a total of £238,000 excluding buyers' premiums.

Trade publications have previously described the featured instrument as arguably the most famous Gretsch Synchromatic in the world. In the music video, Michael wore ripped blue Levi's jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather biker jacket while strumming the vintage guitar, which he reportedly acquired in a Los Angeles shop shortly before filming. The instrument played a significant role in helping Michael transition from a teen pop idol into a serious solo artist after the disbandment of Wham!, a duo he formed alongside Andrew Ridgeley after growing up in Hertfordshire.

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Other items included in the auction catalog fetched notable sums, with several specific lots drawing collectors from around the industry. A Queen Five Live EP sleeve bearing the signatures of Brian May, John Deacon, Roger Taylor, George Michael, and Lisa Stansfield realized £7,000. Meanwhile, a ringbound tour itinerary from the singer's world tour achieved £5,000 at the hammer.

The decision to proceed with the auction sparked intense friction between the estate and the assistant's surviving relatives. Bailey began working with Michael in 1984—the same year Wham! secured their first number-one single with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go—and maintained her role as a trusted confidante through both successful and challenging periods in the pop star's career. She died suddenly and unexpectedly of natural causes at the age of 56. At the time of her death, she was legally married to Ian Belcher, though the two were undergoing divorce proceedings and she left behind no formal will.

Because no registered will existed, her estate passed legally to Belcher. Her brother, Gerard Bailey, argued that if his sister had survived a few weeks longer, Belcher would no longer have qualified as her next of kin. In a letter reviewed by the BBC, the family condemned the event as a breach of privacy and asserted that the commercial promotion of her name was disingenuous. Bailey stated that his sister would have been horrified by the auction and accused Belcher of deciding to cash in years after her passing.

"There are two ways of looking at this - it can be cashing in, or it can be a bit of a memorial and a tribute to Siobhan, and that's the way we've looked at it."

Guy Schooling, Sworders chairman, via BBC News

Auction executives defended the arrangement. Sworders chairman Guy Schooling told the BBC that Belcher had been cooperative and pleasant during their interactions over the preceding two and a half years. While critics argued that marketing personal items such as annotated notes and tour organizers conflicted with the assistant's famously private demeanor, the auction house proceeded with the scheduled event.

Additional items featured in the collection included an inscription written with love and admiration from Michael and Ridgeley, an official Wham! photograph inscribed to the assistant, and an invitation to Ridgeley's 21st birthday party. Michael passed away in 2016, leaving behind a catalog of solo hits including Careless Whisper, Father Figure, Outside, and Fastlove. The auction concluded following the disputes over ownership rights and family inheritance laws governing estates left without a final testament.