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Wham!

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Not to be confused with Whaam!.

Wham!
A black-and-white photograph of the members of the English pop duo Wham!, circa 1985.
Wham! in 1985: George Michael (left) and Andrew Ridgeley (right)
Background information
OriginBushey, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Genres
DiscographyWham! discography
Years active1981–1986
Labels
Past members
Websitewham.world

Wham! (known in the US as Wham! UK) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.[3][4] They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986.[5] Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, the singles "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Everything She Wants" and "Careless Whisper" all topped the US Billboard Hot 100.

Influenced by funk and soul music and presenting themselves as disaffected youth, Wham!'s 1983 debut album Fantastic addressed the United Kingdom's unemployment problem and teen angst over adulthood.[6] Their second studio album Make It Big in 1984 was a worldwide pop smash hit, charting at number one in both the UK and the United States. In 1985, Wham! made a highly publicised ten-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group.[7] The event was seen as a major watershed moment in increasing friendly bilateral relations between China and the West.[8]

In 1986, Wham! disbanded. Michael was keen to create music targeted at a more sophisticated adult market rather than the duo's primarily teenage audience. Before going their separate ways, they released a farewell single, "The Edge of Heaven", and a greatest-hits album titled The Final, along with a farewell concert entitled the Final.

History

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Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads School in Bushey near the town of Watford in Hertfordshire. The two at first performed in a short-lived ska band called the Executive, alongside former school friends David Mortimer (later known as David Austin), Andrew Leaver, Tony Bywaters, Jamie Gould and Paul Ridgeley.[9] When this group split, Michael and Ridgeley eventually formed Wham!. Ridgeley explained that the name originated from a need for "something that captured the essence of what set us apart—our energy and our friendship—and then it came to us: Wham! Wham! was snappy, immediate, fun and boisterous too."[10] British graphic design studio Stylorouge was credited with adding the exclamation mark to the name of the band.[11]

Ridgeley and Michael worked persistently to get a foot in the door with recording executives. Ridgeley would frequently run into Mark Dean from Innervision Records at the Three Crowns Public House in Bushey Heath Hertfordshire, and hand him the band's demo tape.[12] In February 1982, Dean met with Michael and Ridgeley and offered them a recording deal. "I'm going to offer Wham! a deal with my new label Innervision," Dean said. "It's not a huge thing, I'm taking a punt. I'd like you to have a crack at recording a single or two and we'll see what happens from there."[13]

Initially the pair wrote songs such as "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" and "Club Tropicana" together, but part way through the recording of their debut album Fantastic, the pair agreed that Michael was the stronger songwriter, and would take creative control.[14] Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group. The debut record to be released by the band was "Wham Rap!" in June 1982. The song charted at only No. 105.[15] In September 1982, "Young Guns (Go for It)" was issued. Initially, it also stalled outside the UK Top 40 but the band got lucky when the BBC programme Top of the Pops scheduled them after another act unexpectedly pulled out of the show.[16]

Increasing success

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Wham!'s first manager was Bryan Morrison.[17] The effect of Wham! on the public was felt from the moment they finished their debut performance of "Young Guns (Go for It)" on Top of the Pops. Michael and Ridgley wore white espadrilles sockless, an open suede jacket and polo shirt, and rolled-up denim jeans.[18] Ridgeley stood behind him, flanked by backing singers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman. Afterwards, the song shot into the Top 40 at No. 24 and peaked at No. 3 in December. The following year, Dee C. Lee began her work with Paul Weller in the Style Council, and was replaced by Helen 'Pepsi' DeMacque. Holliman and DeMacque would later record as Pepsi & Shirlie. Wham! followed up "Young Guns (Go for It)" with a reissue of "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", "Bad Boys" and "Club Tropicana". By the end of 1983, Wham! were competing against pop rivals Culture Club and Duran Duran as one of Britain's biggest pop acts. Their debut album Fantastic spent two weeks at No. 1 in the UK album charts in 1983, but the album achieved only modest success in the US.[19]

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Soon after this, Ridgeley became conscious of legal problems with their initial contract at Innervision. While the legal battle raged, Innervision released a medley of non-single album tracks from Fantastic, entitled "Club Fantastic Megamix". Wham! publicly denounced the release.[20] After all the legal wrangling, Innervision settled out of court.[21]

Switch to Epic and continued success

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Now signed to Epic Records, except in the US and a few other countries on Epic's sister label Columbia Records, Wham! returned in 1984 with a new album and an updated pop image. These changes helped to propel Wham!'s next single, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", into the top ten of several countries around the world. It became their first US and UK No. 1 single, accompanied by a video of the duo with Pepsi and Shirlie, all wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirts with the slogans "CHOOSE LIFE" and "GO GO".[22]

The next single was "Careless Whisper", featuring only Michael in the music video. In certain markets, the single was promoted as "Wham! featuring George Michael", and in other markets, including the UK, it was credited to Michael as a solo act but, unlike any Wham! single except "Wham Rap!" and "Club Tropicana", it was also co-written with Ridgeley. The song, about a remorseful two-timer, had more emotional depth than previous releases. It reached No. 1, selling over 1.3 million copies in the UK.[23]

"Careless Whisper" marked a new phase in Michael's career, as his label Columbia/Epic began to somewhat distance him from the group Wham!'s playboy image. The next single was "Freedom" and was simply promoted as a Wham! single. Wham! used a video edited together from footage of their tour in China for "Freedom"'s single release in the US, which was in July 1985. Their second album, Make It Big, climbed to No. 1 on the album charts and the band set off on an arena tour at the end of 1984.[24]

The double A-side single "Last Christmas" / "Everything She Wants" became the highest-selling single ever to peak at No. 2 in the UK charts. It stayed at No. 2 for five weeks and, as of February 2020, was the 10th best-selling single of all time in the United Kingdom, selling over 1.9 million copies in the UK.[25] Wham! donated all their royalties from the single to the Ethiopian famine appeal to coincide with the fund-raising intentions of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", the song which kept them out of the top spot. Nevertheless, Band Aid's success meant that Michael had achieved No. 1 status in the UK within three separate entities in 1984—as a solo artist, as one half of a duo, and as part of a charity ensemble.[26] At the end of 1985, the US Billboard charts listed "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" as the No. 3 song and "Careless Whisper" as the No. 1 song of the year.[27]

China (1985)

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In March 1985, Wham! took a break from recording to embark on a lengthy world tour, including a ground-breaking 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group.[7] The China excursion was a publicity scheme devised by Simon Napier-Bell (one of their two managers; Jazz Summers being the other). It began with a concert at the Peoples' Gymnasium in Beijing in front of 12,000 people. They also played a concert in front of 5,000 in Canton. The two concerts were played without compensation.[8] Wham!'s visit to China attracted huge media attention across the world. Napier-Bell later admitted that he used cunning tactics to sabotage the efforts of rock band Queen to be the first to play in China: he made two brochures for the Chinese authorities; one featuring Wham! fans as pleasant middle-class youngsters and one portraying Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in typically flamboyant poses. The Chinese opted for Wham!.[28]

British director Lindsay Anderson was engaged to accompany Wham! to China and make a documentary film about the visit. Anderson called his one-hour and 18 minute film If You Were There. In the final stages of editing, Anderson was dismissed[29] by Wham!'s management, the editing team quit, and the film was re-edited, renamed and released as Wham! in China: Foreign Skies. According to a 2006 interview with The Independent,[30] Andy Stephens, manager for Michael, said that the film [Anderson's version] was simply not good enough to be shown in public: "It's a dreadful film ... It's 20 years old and it's rubbish. Why on earth should we allow it to be shown?", although after viewing it in 2008 critic and journalist John Harris described it as "a rich, poetic, panoramic portrait of China's strangeness to the eyes of outsiders".[31]

Live Aid (1985)

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Sporting a beard, Michael appeared with Ridgeley onstage at Live Aid on 13 July 1985 (although they did not perform as Wham!). Michael sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with Elton John, while Ridgeley joined Kiki Dee in the row of backing singers. In November, Wham! released the single "I'm Your Man" which went to No. 1 in the UK charts.

Around this time, Ridgeley began a relationship with Keren Woodward of Bananarama, and also took up the hobby of rally driving. "Last Christmas" was re-issued for the festive season and again made the UK Top 10, peaking at No. 6, while Michael took up offers he was starting to receive to add his voice to other artists' songs. He performed backing vocals for David Cassidy ("The Last Kiss"), and also for Elton John on his successful singles "Nikita" (UK No. 3) and "Wrap Her Up" (UK No. 12), on which he sang co-lead vocals.

Break-up (1986)

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Michael was keen to create music targeted at a more sophisticated adult market rather than the duo's primarily teenage audience, and therefore, he and Ridgeley officially announced the break-up of Wham! in the spring of 1986. Before going their separate ways, a farewell single "The Edge of Heaven", and a greatest hits album titled The Final would be forthcoming, along with a farewell concert entitled the Final. Announcing the break-up, Michael said: "I think it should be the most amicable split in pop history."[32]

The farewell single reached No. 1 in June 1986. "Where Did Your Heart Go?" was the group's final single in the United States. The song, originally recorded by Was (Not Was), was a gloomy and sombre affair. The duo's last release was a double-LP collection of all the singles to date, including some extended versions. This was released in North America as the severely pared-down Music from the Edge of Heaven with alternate tracks.

At London's Wembley Stadium on 28 June 1986, Wham! bid goodbye to their fans and each other with an emotional embrace at the end of its final concert. 72,000 people attended the eight-hour event,[24] which included support artists, on a scorching hot day in London. The duo had been together for five years, selling over 28 million records and 15 million singles. Foreign Skies, the documentary of their tour of China, received its world premiere as part of the festivities.

Post-Wham! and Michael's death

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In January 1991, Ridgeley joined Michael on stage for a few songs at the encore of his performance at the Rock in Rio event at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[24] On 21 November 2009, there was a Wham!-themed night on television's The X Factor in the UK. Michael later appeared on the show's final episode, performing a duet of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with finalist and eventual winner Joe McElderry. In 2012, Michael said that there was no truth in speculation that he and Ridgeley were set for a Wham! reunion to mark the 30th anniversary of the group's first album.[33]

Michael died from heart and liver disease at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on Christmas Day 2016, at the age of 53. Upon hearing of Michael's death, Ridgeley paid his respects on Twitter, saying, "Heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend Yog."[34] Michael was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in November 2023, with Ridgeley as the induction presenter.[35]

Discography

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Main article: Wham! discography

Filmography

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Tours or shows

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References

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  1. ^ Himes, Geoffrey (12 September 1990). "WHAM! SEPARATE TRACKS". The Washington Post. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  2. ^ Wilson, Carl (20 March 2014). "You Come and Go, You Come and Go ..." Slate. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  3. ^ Biography by Ed Nimmervoll. "Wham! | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  4. ^ Rettenmund, Matthew (15 October 1996). Totally awesome 80s. St. Martin's Press. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-0-312-14436-4. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  5. ^ Qualen, John (1985). The Music Industry: The End of Vinyl?. Comedia's Media and Communications Industry Profile Series. Vol. 5. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-906890-58-6.
  6. ^ "Why George Michael's Wham! period is in need of a reappraisal". CBC Music. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  7. ^ a b McCarty, Lorraine Yvette (2010). "'Big in Japan': Orientalism in 1980s British Pop Music". The Mid-Atlantic Almanack. 19.
  8. ^ a b Neville, Sam (28 April 1985). "ROCK: East meets Wham!, and another great wall comes down". Chicago Tribune – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ Andrew Ridgeley [@ajridgeley] (31 December 2016). "No 'Harry Tadayon' in The Executive GM, AJR, David Austin, Andrew Leaver & Paul Ridgeley Jamie Gould & Tony Bywaters joined us at 1 point 2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ Ridgeley, Andrew (2019). Wham! George & Me: The Sunday Times Bestseller. Penguin Books Limited. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-241-38583-8.
  11. ^ Lucas, Gavin (10 January 2012). "Dream In Colour: The Art of Stylorouge". Creative Review.
  12. ^ "Wham! – The Three Crowns". The Three Crowns – Traditional Pub Located in Bushey Heath, UK. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  13. ^ Ridgeley, Andrew (2019). Wham! George & Me: The Sunday Times Bestseller. Penguin Books Limited. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-241-38583-8.
  14. ^ Ridgeley, Andrew (2019). Wham! George & Me (First ed.). Penguin. pp. 17, 184. ISBN 9780241385807.
  15. ^ Jovanovic, Rob (2015). George Michael: The Biography. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-349-41124-8.
  16. ^ Beaumont, Mark (26 December 2016). "George Michael Obituary: 1963–2016". NME. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  17. ^ Herbert, Emily (2017). George Michael – The Life: 1963–2016: The Man, The Legend, The Music. John Blake Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-78606-471-4.
  18. ^ Herbert, Emily (2017). George Michael – The Life: 1963–2016: The Man, The Legend, The Music. John Blake Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-78606-471-4.
  19. ^ "WHAM! | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  20. ^ Davis, Sharon (2012). 80s Chart-Toppers: Every Chart-Topper Tells a Story. Mainstream Publishing. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-78057-411-0.
  21. ^ Fricke, David (20 November 1986). "The Second Coming of George Michael". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  22. ^ Sibbles, Emma (18 June 2009). "Get it off your chest: The slogan T-shirt has a noble history". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  23. ^ "Best Selling Singles Of All Time". EveryHit.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  24. ^ a b c "Tours Menu". Tours.yogsbackyard.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  25. ^ "The best-selling singles of all time on the Official UK Chart". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  26. ^ "The complete list of the UK No.1 songs of the 80s :1984". Pure80spop.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  27. ^ "Billboard Top 100 Songs of 1985 – Year End Charts". Bobborst.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  28. ^ "How Wham! brought the West to China". BBC News. 24 March 2005.
  29. ^ "Wham in China – Foreign Skies (1986) AKA Lindsay Anderson's If You Were There". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  30. ^ Kelbie, Paul (17 August 2012). "How Wham! made Lindsay Anderson see red in China". The Independent. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  31. ^ Harris, John (19 September 2008). "Sentenced to a lifetime of stress". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  32. ^ "Press 1986 – Smash Hits". Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  33. ^ "Wham! reunion rumours quashed by George Michael". ITV News. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  34. ^ Andrew Ridgeley [@ajridgeley] (26 December 2016). "Heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend Yog. Me, his loved ones, his friends, the world of music, the world at..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  35. ^ Monroe, Jazz; Lindert, Hattie (4 November 2023). "Miguel, Adam Levine, and Carrie Underwood Perform at George Michael's Rock Hall 2023 Induction". Pitchfork. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  36. ^ "BBC Two and BBC Music Present WHAM!: Last Christmas Unwrapped". sonymusic. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
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