THIS Friday, the City Hall plays host to Faith – The George Michael Legacy. Based on the George Michael’s 25 Live tour, the show features singer Wayne Dilks celebrating the work of one of our greatest popstars, all set against a video wall of footage from the 25 Live tour itself.

Dilks is someone who has been performing the songs of George Michael for the best part of a decade-and-a-half. But it’s a show with added poignancy since Michael’s death during Christmas 2016.

But what exactly is the George Michael legacy? A few years ago I wrote a book called Wired For Sound about the history of 1980s music. The story of George Michael loomed large in the telling. Here was someone who was the ugly duckling at school: a podgy, gangly mix of curly hair and thick-rimmed spectacles. From here, he befriended Andrew Ridgeley, formed Wham! and found himself at the forefront of a new wave of British pop bands, including Duran Duran, Culture Club and Spandau Ballet. Wham!, though, were the most successful of the lot, scoring a string of number one singles in the UK and US, before the duo split and Michael went to even greater heights as a solo artist.

Michael forged the now well-trodden route from boy band singer to respected artist. He turned his back on the limelight with his Listen Without Prejudice album in 1990, then found his private life front page when he was arrested in a Beverley Hills toilet for performing a ‘lewd act’: an incident that forced his sexuality into the open and which he celebrated with the song Outside.

George Michael was a figure of huge contradictions: he spent £17,000 flying out a hairdresser during the shooting of the Careless Whisper video, then played a benefit gig for striking miners a few weeks later. Following his death, the narrative that emerged was the depth of his philanthropy: how he worked under anonymity in a local homeless shelter; kept tickets aside at his shows for NHS staff; tipped a barmaid £5,000 because she was a student nurse in debt.

On relistening to his albums, it’s remarkable how many of George Michael’s songs hold up. He was blessed, too, with perhaps the greatest white soul voice of his generation – a winning combination that will see his best work stand the test of time.

‘Got to get up to get down’, George Michael sang on Fastlove. If you want to help Salisbury out of its current snow and spy malaise, you could do worse than getting down to help the city get up again.

Faith – The George Michael Legacy is at Salisbury City Hall on Friday, March 23, 7.30pm