Older is het derde studioalbum van de britse zanger george michael, uitgebracht in 1996. Van het album werden zes singles uitgebracht. Na de uitgave van listen without prejudice volume 1, beschuldigde michael zijn platenmaatschappij epic records ervan het album te weinig te hebben gepromoot. O

ok hadden ze te weinig steun gegeven aan michaels singles waarvan de opbrengst naar goede doelen moest gaan. Om die reden wilde de zanger het contract laten ontbinden. Dit werd een langdurende zaak die uiteindelijk voor de rechter werd uitgevochten.


Deze stelde michael in het ongelijk, maar tijdens de rechtszaak stelde michael dat hij weigerde nieuw materiaal uit te brengen onder epic als hij zou verliezen. Hij hield zich aan zijn woord, maar toch was de zanger niet compleet afwezig uit de muziekindustrie in de zes jaar tussen listen without prejudice en older. Hij gaf verschillende nummers aan het album red hot + dance, voor het goede doel, in 1992.


Ook trad hij op tijdens het freddie mercury tribute concert in het wembley stadion. Van dit optreden werd een cd gemaakt, wat michael de hitsingle somebody to love opleverde. Older verkocht kort na de uitgave goed, het album behaalde de nummer 1-positie in onder meer het verenigd koninkrijk en nederland. Ook de singles jesus to a child en fastlove presteerden goed.


Cassette and booklet in good condition ducoso= dutch collector’s society 20 years on marktplaats

Older found Michael experimenting with new musical styles and expanding his artistic horizons. Particularly notable was the jazz flavour of the album's sound.


The album marked a departure from the synthesised production of his previous projects, delivering a more organic sound with the inclusion of brass and strings. Michael was particularly inspired by the music of Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim. Another big influence was the album's producer, Jon Douglas, who has mixed several George Michael songs as B-sides. They first met when Douglas produced Lisa Moorish's version of "I'm Your Man" in 1995, to which Michael provided backing vocals.[


Michael and Douglas began to work together soon after, and they co-wrote "Spinning the Wheel" together and also co-wrote and produced "Fastlove". Douglas also played keyboards on those tracks. The album is dedicated to Anselmo Feleppa, Michael´s lover who died from AIDS before the release of the album.


Overall, the style of the album was melancholy, dark and sad. Michael complemented this departure making a dramatic change of his clothes, hair style and overall appearance. The long blonde hair, beard and jeans that Michael was known for during the late eighties were replaced with a buzz cut black hair and mostly leather clothes. Michael commented, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, about his new appearance:[

"The way my image changed in Europe was that I looked very different, I had very short hair—I had really a kind of gay look in a way. I think I was trying to tell people I was okay with it [being gay], I just really didn't want to share it with journalists. The album I made in the middle nineties called Older was a tribute to Anselmo, really; there was a dedication to him on the album and fairly obvious male references. To my fans and the people that were really listening, I felt like I was trying to come out with them."