George Michael’s guitar at centre of family row as it goes to auction

An auction of singer George Michael’s personal memorabilia which includes the guitar from the Faith music video has sparked a family row, according to a report.

The guitar is one of several items being sold by Sworders on Thursday from the collection of Michael’s former personal assistant, Siobhan Bailey, who died in 2014.

Ms Bailey’s brother Gerard told the BBC the archive has been offered to auction by her widower, Ian Belcher, adding his sister “would be horrified at the prospect of the auction being held in her name and that her personal, cherished possessions are being sold off to the highest bidder”.

According to the BBC, Ms Bailey was in the process of divorcing her husband but was legally still married to Mr Belcher at the time of her death and did not leave a will, meaning the collection passed to him.

Mr Bailey told the BBC he accepted Mr Belcher had the right to sell the items but claimed his sister was in the process of drafting a will before her death to leave the items to her nieces and nephews.

In a letter to the auction house, seen by the broadcaster, Mr Bailey said the family considers the auction a “breach of his sister’s privacy” and said using her name was “disingenuous”, and asked for the sale to be stopped or listed in Mr Belcher’s name.

A spokesperson for Sworders said: “We are not well placed to comment on a family matter, but such disputes are not uncommon in the auction business. In this case, as the BBC article makes clear, the legal title of the collection is not in question.”

The auction house said Mr Belcher was unavailable for comment.

Mr Bailey said Michael gave the guitar to Ms Bailey, who was his assistant for 20 years, as a gift because he “thought so much of her”.

George Michael had given the items to his former personal assistant, Siobhan Bailey (Ryan Phillips/PA)

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The guitar, which Michael plays while dressed in a black leather jacket and blue jeans in the Faith video, is expected to fetch more than £100,000.

Other items in the sale include ring-bound tour itineraries from Michael’s solo career and his time in the band Wham!.

There is also memorabilia from some of his most celebrated live performances, including a four-page running order from Live Aid in 1985 which features his duet with Sir Elton John, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

Other items for sale include a gold disc for 500,000 UK sales of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, which is estimated to fetch between £200 and £500.

There are also rare cassettes and acetate singles, some marked “Not For Sale”, and a number of signed photographs, all personally inscribed to Ms Bailey.

The collection is expected to fetch more than £200,000 in total (John Stillwell/PA)

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The archive as a whole is expected to achieve more than £200,000.

Guy Schooling, chairman of Sworders auctioneers, previously said the sale “will offer avid fans around the globe the chance to own not just pieces of music history, but objects that capture the spirit and ambition of one of pop’s greatest and most-loved artists”.

Michael, born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, had 13 number one singles in the UK.

He came out as gay in 1998 and became an activist for LGBT rights and an HIV/Aids charity fundraiser.

Michael died of heart disease on Christmas Day in 2016, aged 53.