The guitar George Michael played in the 1987 music video for Faith sold for £180,000 at auction this week, the headline lot in a sale of more than 30 items from the collection of Siobhan Bailey, Michael's personal assistant of 20 years, that has been clouded by a dispute within her family. The full sale, held by auction house Sworders, fetched £238,000 before buyer's premium.
Bailey died in 2014 without a will and was still legally married to, though separated from, her husband Ian Belcher, who inherited the items and consigned them for sale. Her brother, Gerard Bailey, told the BBC his sister "would be horrified at the prospect of the auction being held in her name" and that selling her "personal, cherished possessions... to the highest bidder" was "dishonourable and shameful." He said that had Siobhan lived a few weeks longer, the items would not have passed to Belcher, since he would no longer have counted as her next of kin; Belcher declined to comment, and there is no suggestion he lacked the legal right to sell.
Sworders chairman Guy Schooling defended the sale, saying Belcher had been "nothing but delightful" to work with over more than two years. "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," he told the BBC. Guitarist magazine has called the instrument, a vintage Gretsch Synchromatic that Michael reportedly picked up in a Los Angeles shop shortly before filming, "arguably the most famous Gretsch Synchromatic in the world"; it played a key role in his reinvention from teen pop idol to serious solo artist, strummed on-screen in ripped jeans and a leather jacket as Faith became one of the defining pop singles of the era.
Bailey began working for Michael in 1984, the year Wham! had their first number-one hit with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, and remained his assistant for two decades. "I think she was one of the few people George trusted and whose opinion he valued," her brother said. "She was always honest and straight with him." Other lots in the sale included a Queen Five Live EP sleeve signed by Brian May, John Deacon, Roger Taylor, George Michael and Lisa Stansfield (£7,000), a ringbound itinerary from Michael's 1988 Faith world tour (£5,000), and gold discs for Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and I Want Your Sex.