Albert, who died in 2015 aged 82, shared Andrew's dapper style and bore a striking resemblance to his son. He was unwilling to talk about Andrew's Cornish life when the Mail once went snooping. There is a marked contrast in yours and George’s confidence levels, and it’s illustrated by one of your standout statements in the film about how you always knew who you were and one of George’s standout statements about how he was trying to be you. I think we as a family, (there are lots of us, we Greek Cypriots, we're everywhere)!! have come to fully appreciate (although we already knew really), quite how much love there is out there in the world, for both Yog and his beautiful music. George Michael, Nigel Goodall (1999) George Michael: in his own words Omnibus Press, 1999 (Google Books)

The one thing they did take seriously was the music. Later, when Michael recorded Careless Whisper for their second album at the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama, he didn’t like it, and rerecorded it in London. “So we knew what we were doing [in terms of] writing and making records.” The last part of the book is very moving re their Goodbye concert and then George’s death and the impact both had on Andrew, you could feel his emotion and he told of the moment on that Christmas Day when he took the call from George’s sister relaying the terrible news Here are 10 fantastic facts about the group that gave the world such timeless classics as “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “ Last Christmas,” and of course, “Careless Whisper.” 1. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley met as kids. How come the documentary keeps such a tight focus on WHAM! without getting into you or George before and after?Simon suggested purely archive footage. The home movie stuff, my dad was an amateur cameraman and photographer. He took a lot of cine and stills when we were growing up, in masses and masses, so there was a very rich archive. From the point that we became Wham!, most of it is documented. There are some gaps, and there’s footage that we thought we had, or could find that we didn’t end up getting. But largely, I think there’s enough new footage to give the story real substance and flesh out the account. In 1975 Andrew took a shy new boy at school under his wing. They instantly hit it off, and their boyhood escapades at Bushy Meads School built a bond that was never broken. Theduo found themselves riding an astonishing roller coaster of success, taking them all over the world. They made and broke iconic records, they were treated like gods, but they stayed true to their friendship and ultimately to themselves. It was a party that seemed as if it would never end. And then it did, in front of tens of thousands of tearful fans at Wembley Stadium in 1986. From around the early '90s onwards, Ridgeley mostly avoided the spotlight he had grown accustomed to, aside from occasional appearances on TV and radio. Royalties for Wham! songs like "Careless Whisper" and "Last Christmas" most likely helped keep him in comfort during those years. Andy tells us everything. Well, likely not everything. He's a true friend to George through & through. Readers get a first-hand account of the start of the friendships, school days, listening to records at each other's houses & the birth of Wham! Andrew Ridgeley's memoir is titled Wham!: George Michael and Me, a winking nod to his status in the pop duo Wham!, whose soul-tinged songs were some of the MTV era's most resounding moments.

This article was amended on 19 July 2023. The image taken during the recording of the Club Tropicana video in Ibiza in 1983 features Dee C Lee, not Helen “Pepsi” DeMacque as an earlier caption said. George Michael’s final years were not his most content, but his friendship with Ridgeley endured throughout his most tempestuous times. The Bananarama star has been adjusting to single life after splitting from long-term partner Andrew Ridgeley, of Wham! fame. Andrew Ridgeley: In the wake of the publication of the book, I was approached by Sony Pictures, who wanted to make a biopic. The George Michael estate had no appetite for that. Interest in the book rights and meeting people at book signings made me aware that Wham’s story and its music held a special place in a lot of people’s experiences and affections. Also, we had a 40 th anniversary coming up. As the George Michael estate wouldn’t consider a feature film, I thought maybe a documentary would be the way. Whenever Yog went on tour or released records, there was always an element of Wham! legacy in his wake. Legacy is a proactive matter, and I felt that a documentary would be an excellent way of projecting legacy, reaching fans, and giving them more of what they want.

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Everyone has been working so hard to bring you his music, the movie is going to be there to celebrate and remember Yog and his music well into the future…and we thank everyone whose efforts brought his music to you." For the first time, Andrew Ridgeley—one half of one of the most famous bands in the world—tells the inside story of Wham!, his lifelong friendship with George Michael, and the formation of a band that changed the shape of the music scene in the early eighties. Would being free to come out have made Michael happier? “I think he feels he would. He could have taken that decision to reveal his sexuality at any point, and he chose not to until it was thrust upon him, I think largely because he felt it was no one’s business but his own. He was intensely private, and I understand that fully, because I felt the same way, perhaps not quite as deeply as he did. He felt it compromised his ability to relax and be comfortable and content in his own life.”

DALLAGLIO CYCLE SLAM 2018". Archived from the original on 21 December 2018 . Retrieved 20 December 2018. I loved wham from the age of 12, my fave was always George. And have followed George’s career since. Just a few years later, Bananarama made it into the Guinness Book Of Records as the most successful female group of all time. To date they have had 30 chart hits. In the US, Venus became their first No1 single on the Billboard chart. Their combined record sales were over 40 million.From there, the book becomes a soft-focus reminiscence of Michael and Ridgeley's friendship and the wild ride it took around the world. Bonding over records and the drum set in Michael's bedroom leads to the pair attending concerts by Queen and Genesis and watching the UK chart show Top of the Pops; seeing the New Wavers Blondie appear on that show in 1978, writes Ridgeley, made him "understand the power of the Pop Star." In hindsight, the music wasn't actually too bad for the time, but critics weren't kind to Ridgeley's solo efforts. Perhaps people were disappointed that Andrew had taken a guitar-driven route that veered wildly from Wham!, or maybe his work suffered from too many inevitable comparisons to George's huge success at the time. Whatever the case, Ridgeley never released another album of solo material again.

His ego must have been bruised, at least? “I like to think I have a minimal ego. But it was difficult. It did feel uncomfortable to put aside that aspect of my creativity, but I understood the context in which it was being done.” He sounds so rational. No existential angst? “I don’t do existential angst,” he says with a laugh. “My feelings weren’t hurt, but it was difficult, it was uncomfortable, because it reduced my input into Wham!. We started off writing songs together – that had always underpinned music-making.” Sanghera, Sathnam (12 October 2019). "Andrew Ridgeley Cheltenham Festival". Cheltenham Literature Festival 2019 . Retrieved 20 July 2023. He had a very silly sense of humor, and he was very funny. That remained always the case. That stupidity and silliness was enhanced. There’s no denying we brought it out of each other. That’s the central theme and pillar of our friendship, silliness and the enjoyment we derived from each other’s company. We made each other laugh. Bursting with youthful exuberance and joyful energy, sparkling and effervescent, WHAM!, GEORGE MICHAEL AND ME is an absolute delight! I was never a rabid WHAM! fan - my mother was! - but some songs were irresistible, particularly Careless Whisper and the infectious and Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go). But there was always the question: "What did Andrew do, really?". It turns out that without Andrew Ridgeley, there would have been no WHAM!. neemt George (hij noemt hem Jok, een afkorting van zijn Griekse naam Georgios) op sleeptouw als hij op zijn eerste schooldag verlegen het lokaal in schuifelt.I was offered a few film roles and I went to an acting coach," Andrew recalled. "It was immediately apparent to me that it was not something that I wanted to do.