George Michael was planning a "big comeback", says Nile Rodgers

Nile Rodgers has discussed the collaboration he was working on with George Michael, revealing that the late star was plotting a "big comeback" just days before his death.

The Chic star recalled that he had been at George's house just two days before the singer was found dead on Christmas Day and planned to play him a demo the pair had been working on.  

At the BBC Worldwide Showcase, when asked who he would most like to collaborate with, Rodgers told the Press Association: "That's a tricky question because I always go to the people that I almost work with and it didn't work out because they passed away and that emotion is so strong.

"I was just working with George Michael. I was here on December 23, and I had come over to remix one of his songs, and while I was here working on the remix I was also doing a Chic concert that night.

"But then George Michael was doing a film, because he was planning a big comeback. So they had me come over to his house to shoot the film, and I still hadn't played the demo yet because I thought it was so cool and fairly drastic, I wanted to just play it for him first.

"So I get a message from Michael, a text - 'So Nile lets talk tomorrow'...On Christmas Day, instead of getting a text I get an alert: 'George Michael found dead.'

"It was heart-breaking and he never got a chance to hear what I did, so now I'm ambivalent about the work because I wanted him to hear it, not the record company necessarily. Not that I have anything against them, it's just he was such a genius and he created and produced his own work."

George's discography flooded back into the Official Chart in the weeks after his death, including his 1998 retrospective Ladies & Gentlemen, which reached Number 4. 

A reissue of his 1990 album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 is expected to be released on May 19.

MORE: George Michael's complete Official UK Chart history