George Michael is to go on tour for the first time in 15 years - and has dismissed criticism that his lifestyle is threatening his career.

The singer, who rose to fame 25 years ago as one half of pop duo Wham!, told ITV's Parkinson programme that, far from being "miserable and sad", his career is back on track.

In his interview with Michael Parkinson, due to be broadcast on ITV1 at 10.15pm tomorrow, Michael blamed Elton John, as well as homophobia, for reports that he is unhappy.

Michael said: "The trajectory of my particular soap opera launched from that statement Elton made about 18 months ago when Elton hadn't seen me for years. The subtext to it is he was all right before he came out and now he lives this depraved gay life and he's miserable and fat ... Elton said he thought I was really miserable for some reason. From that point on, I've been trying to prove that I'm not."

Michael is to play a series of 50 concert dates, kicking off in Spain in September and ending in the UK in December, where he will perform at Wembley Arena. It is almost 18 years since he sang his own songs live. Michael said that, if he enjoyed the tour, he would do a stadium tour next summer.

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