"Wham" redirects here. For other uses, see Wham (disambiguation).

Wham! (often written WHAM!) was a pop band formed in 1981 by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with another band.

History

Beginnings

Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads School in Watford, England, UK. At first, they performed in a short-lived rock and roll band called The Executive. They then changed their name and signed with Innervision Records. Soon after a legal victory over Innervision, the duo was signed to CBS, Columbia Records in the United States and Canada and Epic Records for the rest of the world.

Michael took on the majority of roles and responsibilities within the band— composer, singer, producer, and occasional instrumentalist— but the contribution of Ridgley as the group's image specialist and spokesman was crucial to the band's initial success. Ridgeley convinced a reluctant George that Wham! needed to change their image and sound frequently, from the leather-clad moody singers of "Bad Boys" and "Young Guns (Go For It!)" to the more fashionable pop superstars of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."

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. Such works as "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)" have been seen as sarcasm advocating the other point of view.

The first record to be released by the band was "Wham Rap!". It was a double-A side with a Social Mix and Anti-social Mix. The record was banned for general release in the UK due to the profanity in the Anti-social Mix. In October 1982, their song "Young Guns (Go For It!)" was issued. The song was an appeal from one youthful lad to his friend to not throw his life away so early on marriage. It stalled outside the UK Top 40 but then Wham! got lucky when Top Of The Pops scheduled them. An important weekly BBC chart show on television, it had to look outside the Top 40 to fill a gap created by an act which had pulled out of recording. Nearest to the 40 mark and still climbing, Wham! was summoned, and a phenomenon immediately began.

Increasing success

The impact of Wham! on the public, especially teenage girls, was felt from the moment they finished their debut performance of "Young Guns (Go For It!)" on Top Of The Pops. Michael's appearance may have helped. He wore espadrilles, a suede jacket slit open, and rolled-up denim jeans. Ridgley stood behind him, flanked by backing dancers D.C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman.

The performance was as much one of acting as it was of singing, with Michael playing the part of the pleading goodtime lad, and Ridgeley the guy who had been drawn into commitment. Afterwards, the song shot into the Top 40 at #24 and peaked at #3 in December. The following year (1983), D.C. Lee began her work with Paul Weller of The Style Council, and was replaced by Pepsi DeMacque. Holliman and DeMacque would later record music as Pepsi and Shirlie.

Wham! followed up "Young Guns (Go For It!)" with the reissue "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", a song about the joys of a leisurely life (the full version of which clocked in at almost seven minutes long); "Bad Boys", about a strained relationship between a rebellious teenage lad and his worried parents; and "Club Tropicana", a satire of the Club 18-30 scene. Each song came with a memorable music video.

By the end of 1983, Wham! was rivaling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain's biggest pop act. Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing a shuttlecock down their shorts, and their first album Fantastic reached #1.

Around this time, Ridgeley become conscious of legal problems with their initial contract at Innervision. He mounted a legal challenge against the record company and its founder Mark Dean, who had initially signed them to the label, and George publicly stated they were financially mistreated ^{[citation needed]}. While the legal battle raged (perhaps to raise much-needed funds for the fight), Innervision released a medley of non-single album tracks from Fantastic, entitled Club Fantastic Megamix. Wham! publicly denounced the move, and urged fans not to buy it. After all the legal wrangling, Innervision admitted there were royalty discrepancies with Wham!'s contract, leading to the bankruptcy and dissolution of Innervision.

Driven by Ridgeley, the duo changed their image, and Wham! returned in May 1984 with an updated, cutting-edge pop image quickly copied by other pop bands. Ridgeley changed the band's look from "moody in leather jackets" to smiles and fashionable clothing, with an aim to promote themselves more as sex symbols rather than spokespeople for a disaffected generation.

Fittingly enough, these changes propelled the next single (a pop standard) to the top of the charts around the world. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, a song Michael wrote from a note left to him in his hotel room one night by Ridgeley. The note was mistakenly written by Ridgeley as "don't forget to wake me up up before you go go, George". Since he accidentally wrote the word "up" twice, Ridgley decided to compound the error and write "go" twice. It became their first UK #1 and rose to the top in the USA), capped by a memorable video of the duo, plus the ubiquitous Pepsi and Shirlie, wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirts with the slogans CHOOSE LIFE and GO GO.

These t-shirts became essential fashion items as Hamnett wrote herself into the pop culture lexicon, having simultaneously designed the FRANKIE SAY t-shirts for Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Although some critics felt that Wham! represented bubblegum pop^{[citation needed]}, many people started to appreciate Michael's proven ability as a songwriter and capable vocalist. (The following year, he would win the Ivor Novello Award for songwriting.) However, at the same time they bemoaned the status of Ridgley, who had started to "play" a guitar during live shows (never on any recordings) but whose overall contribution was deemed to be lightweight^{[citation needed]}.

With some bizarre contradiction, the next single "Careless Whisper" was issued as a George Michael solo piece, yet unlike any Wham! single since "Wham Rap!," it was co-written by Ridgeley. The song quickly reached #1. In the autumn of 1984, Wham! came back as a duo with "Freedom", another chart-topper. In November, they released their second album, Make It Big, which coasted to #1 on the album charts. The band set off on another arena tour at the end of '84, and Ridgeley told Smash Hits magazine at the time that he had written a song called "Stephen." The song had been composed for a friend who was struggling to cope with bereavement. While this song is still unreleased, those that were at the recording sessions describe it as a heartfelt story of the loss of a loved one^{[citation needed]}.

George contributed to the Band Aid project, with Michael providing vocals as the song usurped their own Christmas release, "Last Christmas"/"Everything She Wants", the former of which featured a video set in a ski resort.

The single became the highest-selling single ever to peak at #2 in the UK charts. As such, Wham! donated all their royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal to coincide with the fundraising intentions of Band Aid, the song which beat them to the top spot. Band Aid's success meant that Michael had been at #1 within three different entities in 1984—as a solo artist, half of a duo, and part of a charity ensemble.

China and Live Aid

In April 1985, Wham! took a break from recording to embark on an enormous world tour including a groundbreaking 10-day visit to China, the first tour of that country by a Western pop group.^[1] The China excursion was a masterful publicity scheme devised by Simon Napier-Bell (one of their two managers). It culminated in a concert at the Worker's Gymnasium in Beijing in front of 10,000 people. Director Lindsay Anderson documented the tour in his film Foreign Skies.

Sporting a beard, Michael appeared with Ridgley onstage at Live Aid (although they didn't 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 backup singers. In November, Wham! released "I'm Your Man" which went straight to #1 in the UK charts.

By this time, Culture Club and Duran Duran were in sharp decline, and Wham! were the most popular act in British pop music. Michael began a relationship with model/makeup artist Kathy Yeung and Ridgley with Keren Woodward of Bananarama. Ridgley also took up the hobby of rally driving, famously crashing one car before the end of 1985. "Last Christmas" was re-issued for the festive season and again made the UK Top 10, peaking at #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, and for Elton John on his successful singles "Nikita" and "Wrap Her Up," on which he sang co-lead.^[2]

Demise

Michael desired to create music targeted to a more sophisticated audience than the duo's primarily teenage fanbase. Therefore, Michael and Ridgeley announced the breakup of Wham! in the spring of 1986, destined to take place after a farewell single and album, along with a historic grand finale concert at Wembley Stadium on June 28, 1986, called The Final. British pop group Five Star declined George's invitation to be the supporting act, saying they needed to concentrate on their own career at the time.

The farewell single was "The Edge of Heaven" which reached #1 in June 1986. "Where Did Your Heart Go?" was the group's final single in the United States. The song, originally recorded by art-rock ensemble Was (Not Was), was a downbeat and somber affair that telegraphed the intentions of George Michael for the next decade's work and would fit musically on any of his solo albums. The duo's last album was a double-LP collection of all the singles to date, mostly the extended versions, and was also called The Final (released in North America as the severely pared-down Music from the Edge of Heaven with alternate tracks). Wham! then said goodbye to their audience (73,000 of whom attended the eight-hour event) and each other with an emotional embrace at the end of the show. The band had been together five years, selling close to 20 million albums and 10 to 15 million singles. Foreign Skies, the film of their tour of China, received its world premiere as part of the festivities, making it the most highly-attended film premiere in history.

Post-Wham!

As CBS Records preferred the pop sound of Wham!, Ridgley's solo guitar- and drum-driven career (Son of Albert CD) was over almost as soon as it began. After varying careers as a rally driver and actor in LA, Ridgley retired to Cornwall, where he became an environmental activist with Surfers Against Sewage. He lives with his wife Keren Woodward.

He later became a partner in a firm which manufactures surfing goods. He has largely stayed out of the public eye and remains in Cornwall in his meticulously restored 15th-century house.

Michael, who had enjoyed his second solo #1 earlier in the year with "A Different Corner," began a permanent solo career which immediately endeared him to the adult audience he desired to reach.

"Last Christmas" was given its third consecutive festive release in December 1986, although that time it stalled outside the Top 40. No other Wham! single has ever been re-issued to the UK charts since then, and it took until 1995 before a Wham! song was given a mainstream cover version treatment, when Danish singer Whigfield did her own version of "Last Christmas" (which was later covered by Billie Piper as the b-side to her 1998 single "She Wants You," and released as the A-side in several territories). The same year, Lisa Moorish, girlfriend at the time to Oasis' Liam Gallagher, recorded "I'm Your Man" for release into the charts.

According to newspaper rumours, Lisa apparently shared the studio with George Michael, who at the time was putting the finishing touches to the Older album. At the time of release, Michael legally could not be associated with the song, but he is rumoured to have provided the male vocal section in the chorus. Since then, Shane Richie has covered "I'm Your Man" as a fundraising song for the BBC charity telethon Children in Need.

For several years after he became a solo artist, George Michael was publicly negative about his time in Wham!, largely because of the intense negativity of media coverage on business partner Ridgley. George complained of the constant pressure he felt, and he claimed that the duo had been mistreated financially. He also spoke disparagingly about the Wham! repertoire, especially the songs from the first album.

However, his perspective on the era has softened in recent times. He still performs "Everything She Wants", one of the more critically acclaimed songs from the Wham! era, at his solo concerts.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1983 Fantastic #1 UK, #83 US
• 1984 Make It Big #1 UK, #1 US
• 1986 Music From The Edge of Heaven #10 US

Compilations

• 1986 The Final #2 UK
• 1987 12" Mixes
• 1997 If You Were There (The Best of Wham) #4 UK

Hit singles

Notes

• ² "Everything She Wants" / "Last Christmas" released as a double A-side in the UK.
• ³ "The Edge of Heaven" / "Where Did Your Heart Go?" released as a double A-side in the UK.
• ⁴ The U.S. peak position of #58 for "Last Christmas" is from the Hot 100 Airplay chart; although the song received a fair amount of airplay, it was ineligible for the Hot 100 at the time as it was not available commercially in the U.S.
• ¹ most notably with Elton John: "Nikita" (a UK #3) and "Wrap Her Up" (a UK #12) in 1985

External links

• Official website of George Michael
• GeorgeMichael.org
• George Michael: The Box of Fame
• Wham! at Rolling Stone