For me the real interest was the period where George and Andrew had become friends and were dreaming and gently stepping into music. This period is told with detail to see and understand how the two got along, planned and played things and importantly how the dynamics of that friendship worked. That was very much my objective, and also perspective, insofar as it had to be about Wham! and Wham! as more than the sum of its parts, not about the parts. Nothing on either side really mattered. Obviously because Wham! is inextricably linked to our friendship, and in many ways a manifestation of our youthful friendship, necessarily the early days of the friendship are in the film. Beyond that, the Wham! story has a beginning, a middle and an end, so it sets its own parameters. It’s an easier story to tell in that context. That’s all it ever needed to be. 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!. As the documentary recalls, Ridgeley and Michael were allowed a level of control over their output that seems staggering now, not least because they were just 19 when their first single, Wham Rap!, came out in 1982, and 23 when the band split. a b Gold, Todd (23 September 1985). "Double Wham!my: George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley Are Making It Big". People.

Indeed, they shared a London council flat to begin with and Sex Pistol Paul Cook produced their first single, Aie A Mwana. However, it wasn’t long before they were on the cover of everything from Smash Hits to The Face and the NME. In 2005, Ridgeley and Michael made plans to reunite as Wham! for Live 8, but Ridgeley reportedly pulled out at the last minute. In 2012, Michael dismissed rumours that they were set for a reunion to mark the 30th anniversary of their first record. Michael said that there was no truth in speculation the group would reform for a one-off concert. [20] a b "Wham! reunion rumours quashed by George Michael". ITV News. 20 June 2012 . Retrieved 24 December 2012. We know how much his lyrics can offer support when things are tough and help celebrate when times are good and life is going well… and that is just as powerful now as if he were still with us and as many of you say in your messages, it's a gift."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. In 1990, Ridgeley released a solo album, but hadn’t really wanted to – he wanted to do a single first to see how it landed – and it was disappointing. “It was misjudged,” he says. Ridgeley left the spotlight, having achieved his life’s ambitions in his early 20s, living off Wham! royalties. There is something winningly youthful about him and the way he has spent his life – cycling, surfing, walking, a brief stint as a racing-car driver. He didn’t have children, although he helped to raise his stepson, during a long relationship with fellow 80s popstar Keren Woodward, of Bananarama.

The two books are alike in that they come across as a means to justify the past and straighten out the public's perception of who they were and what part they played in the success of the band. Both books seem somewhat of a grasping effort to take the credit the authors feel they deserved but were never openly lavished with in the hayday of their careers. The following year, Ridgeley started to revisit the legacy of Wham! in the public eye – firstly with an uncredited cameo appearance in the film Last Christmas, which of course, heavily featured the band's legendary song. Being a huge Wham fan I was eager to read a first hand account of how two young men, best friends growing up in grade school went on to become the pop sensation that was a part of my early teen years and still is. 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.”They shared a love of music, “and an extremely juvenile sense of humour, [which] was the central pillar of our relationship”. They would pretend to do radio shows, “where we’d take off DJs, and we’d recreate scenes from movies. We saw things very much the same way.” Michael was the shy, self-conscious boy – worried about his weight, and with frizzy hair and glasses. It was Ridgeley who was stylish, had a cast-iron self-assurance and felt desperate to be in a band. “I did have to sort of railroad him,” he says. Michael – when he talks about his friend, he often slips into the present tense – “says he always wanted to be a songwriter and an artist, but he didn’t seem to have that when we were growing up – that focus and drive to put aside everything else”.

In Wham! George and Me, Andrew tells the story of how they rode a rollercoaster of success around the world while making iconic records and surviving superstardom with their friendship intact. It is a memoir of love, music, the flamboyant 1980s and living in a pop hurricane.DALLAGLIO CYCLE SLAM 2018". Archived from the original on 21 December 2018 . Retrieved 20 December 2018. Sanghera, Sathnam (12 October 2019). "Andrew Ridgeley Cheltenham Festival". Cheltenham Literature Festival 2019 . Retrieved 20 July 2023. The film highlights how, without you, Wham! or anything that came after wouldn’t have been possible. Does that feel redemptive to you at all, especially when it comes to songwriting? The family had gone on: "It seems important that his generosity of spirit and natural empathy have touched you in a way that would have him embarrassed, all your kind words are really good to hear and we know you have always known his true heart.