“As” George Michaels and Mary J. Blige

In 1999, British singer George Michael and American singer Mary J. Blige covered the song for Michael’s greatest hits album Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael(1998). Released outside the United States on March 1, 1999, as the second single from the album, “As” became a top-10 hit in Michael’s home country, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart, and also charted within the top 10 in Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.

“As” was not released on the US version of Ladies & Gentlemen or as a single in the US. Michael cited Blige’s record company president, Jay Boberg, for pulling the track after Michael’s arrest for committing a lewd act in a public restroom.^[6] In 2019, Kirk Burrowes, who executive produced Blige’s fourth album Mary, told Rated R&B that it was indeed Boberg’s decision not to release “As” in the US: “[Boberg] did not want to let George Michael, who initiated that original production, use it as a single in the U.S. to launch his greatest hits album. It pissed everyone off at Sony. It pissed George Michael off. It pissed everyone off, but we couldn’t make Jay Boberg bend. He should have put it on the Mary album, but we couldn’t put it on the album in the states because he wouldn’t let George Michael put it on the Ladies & Gentlemen [album] in the states.”^[7]