George Michael has announced that his latest album, Patience, will be his last.

He is abandoning the music business to release his songs online for free instead.

The singer says he will never make another album for sale in record shops because he does not need the cash and does not enjoy fame.

Fans will be given the option to make donations online in exchange for downloading the tracks, and the proceeds will be given to charity.

According to BBC online he said: “I’ve been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don’t need the public’s money.”

He added that he hoped people downloading his music would donate to his favourite charities.

Explaining his decision, the former Wham! frontman said: “It does two things – it takes the pressure off to have a collection of songs every so many years, which is what nearly killed me.

“I’m not pretending I won’t be famous any more, but in the modern world if you take yourself out of the financial aspect of things, you’re not making anybody any money, you’re not losing anybody any money.

“Believe me, I’ll be of very little interest to the press in a certain number of years.

“I’ll hopefully be a happier man, giving my music and also doing something really positive with my music if people are generous enough to donate to the site. I’ll remove myself from all that negativity.”

Credit: Ananova