international star. ♪ ♪ baby i know you're asking me to stay ♪ >> over the course of his career, mikal won two grammys and three american music wards and had eight number one hits on the billboard hot 100 in the united states and ellen just tweeting, i've just heard about my friend george michael's death. he was such a brilliant talent. i'm so sad. this month he announced he was working on a new album. >> he was a brilliant talent on the debut album. he wrote and produced nearly every song except for one and played most of the instruments and that one alone sold about 20 million plus. but he also had some health concerns in the past, didn't he? >> yeah, that is right. he was absolutely unique talent. but back in 2011 he was taken to the hospital, he wound up in the icu and it was later revealed