George Michael death: The world mourns on the loss of yet another great musician in 2016

There are only a couple of days left for 2016 and while everyone is already looking forward to forgetting an eventful year and head to 2017, a last-minute death shocker arrives on the heels of Christmas. George Michael, the 1980s pop icon, has died due to heart failure.

Hollywood and beyond have been shaken by the news that the Wham! frontman has departed Sunday with the confirmation from his longtime manager Michael Lippman.

"It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period," the singer's publicist Connie Filippello told BBC and was picked up by The Hollywood Reporter. "The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage."

Michael was reportedly found on Christmas morning "in bed, lying peacefully" albeit already lifeless. The exact time of death has yet to be figured out as well as the cause of it. However, reports note that the Thames Valley Police said they "were called to a property in Goring-on-Thames shortly before 2 p.m. Christmas Day. Sadly, a 53-year-old man was confirmed deceased at the scene. At this stage, the death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious. A post mortem will be undertaken in due course. There will be no further updates from Thames Valley Police until the post mortem has taken place."

Michael, who was a staple in the iconic 80s music scene had hits like "Faith," "Father Figure" and "One More Try" during his solo career. But he also had a slew of charting releases in his days as half of the Wham! duo with Andrew Ridgeley in "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Everything She Wants" as the band's number 1 songs in the charts. However, the 1990s was a little less kind to the English musician as he got caught up in some personal struggles particularly with coming out as gay. He got in a six-month tryst with Brazilian fashion designer Anselmo Feleppa who apparently had HIV. Fortunately, Michael was not infected but admitted to having such a hard time coping with the situation especially when he had no one to talk to about it. In the new millennium, his substance abuse problem came to the attention of the public.

His struggles, however, could not usurp the kind of talent and gift of music that he has given the world. A lot of his comrades from the industry took it to their social media accounts to send their condolences including Sir Elton John as well as Ridgeley.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced but Lippman revealed that it will be made public shortly.