The BRIT Awards organizers announced that George Michael, who passed away on December 25, 2016 at the age of 53, would be honored at the awards tonight. Coldplay's Chris Martin took the stage to pay tribute to Michael, delivering a rendition of Michael's 1986 single "A Different Corner." The performance was cut with archive footage of Michael singing the song to create a posthumous duet.
The performance was introduced by Michael's Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley who remembered "an icon of his era" and described his late friend as "a supernova." He was joined by Wham! backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie.
Before his death, George Michael had been working on a documentary entitled Freedom to coincide with the reissue of Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. The film chronicles the period in which George Michael recorded his second solo album and is scheduled to be released this year.
Watch Chris Martin's tribute performance to George Michael at the 2017 BRITs above.
