A senior coroner of Oxfordshire, England, on Tuesday said that iconic singer George Michael had died of natural causes on December 25, ruling out the need for an inquest, BBC reported. Darren Salter said the musician’s death was a result of heart and liver diseases.

“As there is a confirmed natural cause of death, being dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver, the investigation is being discontinued, and there is no need for an inquest or any further inquiries,” Salter said. The statement called for the family’s privacy to be respected.

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Michael’s last rites had been put on hold as officials had said that the initial autopsy had “proven inconclusive”. His partner Fadi Fawaz said on Twitter, “The truth is out. All the nasty comments and press were very cruel and unnecessary whatsoever. Now I hope to receive some real love.”

The 53-year-old had died on Christmas Day in his home in Oxfordshire. His manager Michael Lippmann had claimed the cause of death was heart failure. Fawaz had said he had found him dead when he went to wake him for Christmas lunch.

Born Gergios Kyriacos Panayiotou in London in 1963, Michael formed the band Wham! in 1981 with Andrew Ridgeley. He was 19 when the duo’s first single “Young Guns (Go For It!)” was released and became a smash hit in the United Kingdom.

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Soon after, he became a teen idol and went on to make many more successful albums until 1986 when Wham! announced their split. His solo offerings such as “I Want Your Sex”, “Faith”, “Father Figure” and “Careless Whisper” were all No. 1 hits in the United States.

Michael had several run-ins with the law. In 1998, he was arrested for “engaging in a lewd act” in a public restroom in Beverly Hills, California. In 2006, he was arrested for possession of drugs in London, the first of the many such run-ins he had later in the decade. His sexual orientation was the subject of a great deal of speculation till he announced in 1998 that he was gay.