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Hi.
You've just seen a typical morning in the life of Wham!,
but things haven't really...
Once again. Can we do it again?
Hi.
You've just seen a typical morning in the life of Wham!.
Things haven't always been this way for us.
This is Bushey Meads School, where we met at the tender age of 12 in 1975.
We have with us today
a very special guest.
Mr. Ted Halliwell, my old headmaster.
Ted, how are you?
Never been better.
Good. Ted, tell me, did you ever think things would turn out like this?
- Well... - Thank you, Ted. Let's go to George.
When I was with Andrew,
we were absolutely determined to have a fantastic time.
Wham! was a brotherhood.
It was playful.
A human, unpredictable mess.
All of it was pop.
And Wham! was never gonna grow up.
It was like a dream, really,
since we were kids.
But at the time,
everyone's like,
"How can these two idiots become so bloody massive?"
"How does that happen?"
♪ Wham! Bam! I am a man ♪
♪ Job or no job ♪
♪ You can't tell me that I'm not ♪
♪ Do you enjoy what you do? ♪
♪ If not, just stop ♪
♪ Don't stay there and rot ♪
♪ Ah! La, la la, la la ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ La, la la, la la ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ I ain't got no more worries ♪
♪ I ain't got no more time for you ♪
♪ Loving you takes such courage ♪
♪ Everyone's got their eye on you ♪
♪ I ain't got no more worries ♪
♪ I ain't got no more time for you ♪
♪ Loving you takes such courage ♪
♪ And don't you think that I know it I know it, I know it, I know it ♪
George, can you just tell us how you and Andrew got together?
Uh, basically, we met when I was 11 and Andrew was 12
in North London.
The first day
that I got to my new school, I met Andrew.
Our form tutor walked in with a new boy.
He had these sodding great big window-frame glasses.
And I was very awkward.
Slightly porky, very strange-looking bloke.
Very curly big bonce of hair.
And quite shy.
Our teacher introduced him as Georgios Panayiotou.
Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, that's it.
"Who's going to look after the new boy?"
Andrew put up his hand.
I genuinely believe that there's something predestined about it.
I mean, the path might have been totally different
had I sat down next to someone else that day.
For me, he was Yog. It was the nickname I'd given him.
There was such a bond there, really.
Essentially, Yog and I saw things exactly the same way.
Musically, we were joined at the hip.
We'd spend hours doing skits and putting together comedy radio shows.
...writing songs, and then we started a band when we were both about 16.
We were the Executive.
Uh, the Executive.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!
It was ska music,
and we were terrible, basically!
Uh, we weren't bad for 16.
Okay, wankers, third time!
The five of us just about covered everything that we needed instrument-wise.
Come back, Andrew!
Fizzled out after a year,
as people didn't turn up for practices or concerts or whatever.
I wouldn't say it fizzled out.
It rather more imploded, and that just left me and Yog.
It was just gonna be us two.
And we would just carry on writing songs together.
And we'd go out dancing in London's West End.
And we went to a club called the Beat Route.
We were kinda doing this, like, formation dance
and having a laugh.
Andy started shouting something about "wham, bam" and all this, you know?
So I just started rapping,
"Wham, bam, I am the man."
We thought that'd be a good name for a group.
Wham!.
And it stuck.
♪ I really don't know much better... ♪
And there was only ever one thing that I wanted to do.
Be in a band with Yog.
Andrew and I had developed a knack for writing these catchy songs.
We did a demo tape for £20 in Andrew's front room.
We had, like, a broom with a microphone tied to it
and one of those little four-track portastudios
that had just come out at the end of the '70s.
♪ I said get, get, get on down ♪
You know, we were all 17 or 18.
The songwriting was dictated by our circumstances,
the environment around us.
Protests throughout the country.
The rocketing rise of unemployment among 16- to 18-year-olds.
We were fusing rap with disco, and then we added pop.
A social lyric to a disco backing.
♪ Hey, everybody, take a look at me ♪
♪ I've got street credibility ♪
♪ I may not have a job But I have a good time ♪
♪ With the boys that I meet Down on the line... ♪
The silly chant that I'd been singing at one of the clubs,
we wrote the song "Wham Rap!" around it.
♪ Wham, bam, I am a man ♪
We just kept writing songs from there.
Yog and I drew on our clubbing experiences.
"Club Tropicana" was written about the Beat Route.
♪ Club Tropicana, drinks are free... ♪
We only had a verse and a chorus for that track.
Yog came round to my house one evening,
and I'd been working on a chord progression that I really liked.
It was amazing because he said,
"I've got a melody that fits over that chord progression perfectly."
We'd come up with roughly the same chord pattern.
♪ As I fall once more... ♪
♪ I smell the varnish ♪
♪ Of this dance floor ♪
♪ To the heart and mind... ♪
We finished it together,
put it together very slowly at home or on the bus,
just add a little bit day by day.
♪ Pain is all you'll find ♪
♪ And I'm never gonna dance again ♪
♪ Guilty feet have got no rhythm ♪
♪ And it's easy to pretend ♪
♪ But I know I'm not a fool... ♪
I remember it when it was finished
one day when we were bunking off school.
I said to him, "I don't know who'll do it,
and I don't know whether I'll be good enough to sing it."
"That is a number-one song."
The actual demo tape was about four minutes long.
That was quite enough for me. I was supremely confident.
Even though it was one song,
two-thirds of another, and a quarter of the other.
We'd go and doorstep record companies.
Two 18-year-old boys. How cocky is that?
We'd just stand there
and insist that we had booked an appointment.
We had a very disappointing response.
A guy chucked the tape back over the table and said,
you know, "Nice voice, but go away and write some hit songs."
They all sent "Careless Whisper" away. They all sent "Club Tropicana" away.
I remember my stomach turning over,
and I remember the sinking feeling.
I was absolutely devastated.
Devastated.
It was discouraging,
but I knew a chap called Mark Dean, who lived down the road from my parents,
and he was in the record industry.
I think he discovered Soft Cell and ABC.
Andy kept on phoning my mum all the time, saying, "Would you listen to a tape?"
And, uh, I wouldn't. I kept on avoiding him.
I just thought, "Oh, not another band next door."
Andrew put the tape into Mark Dean's letterbox.
There was no music on the tape.
It was just George singing songs with scratchy guitar.
But it was still great, and it was fantastic.
He said, "I'm gonna offer you a record deal."
We signed it at this little greasy-spoon café.
Pure joy.
My mum started, from day one, a scrapbook.
And she built up an amazing collection.
Cuttings, reviews,
chart positions.
She really committed to the scrapbook.
Scrapbook number one.
"Andrew and Yog signed record contract with Innervision."
"Wham!"
That was it. You know, we were living it.
It was just absolutely magical,
playing out your fantasies.
It was just a dream and with your best mate, you know.
Wham! is really just Andrew and myself,
but we thought we would incorporate two girls,
one of whom would be Andrew's girlfriend.
Shirlie, Yog, and I used to go out dancing.
Then we felt that's how we could present our music.
Another is a professional.
Dee C Lee joined us.
The two girls had been inspired by the Human League.
Andrew and I both loved Human League.
George loves Human League. I quite like them.
The girls hadn't been inspired by Human League.
You know, we used what we had,
and I had a girlfriend,
and we had these dance routines. That's what we had.
So our first ever 45 was pressed.
♪ You're gonna have a good time... ♪
Hi, this is George Michael of Wham! here.
Hope you enjoy the new single.
It's called "Wham Rap!."
♪ Get, get, get on down ♪
♪ Said get, get, get on down ♪
♪ Hey, everybody, take a look at me ♪
♪ I've got street credibility ♪
♪ I may not have a job But I have a good time ♪
♪ With the boys that I meet Down on the line ♪
♪ Say D-H-S-S ♪
♪ Man, the rhythm that they're givin' Is the very best... ♪
The response was extraordinary.
Sounds described us as socially aware funk.
♪ Get yourself a job Are you a man or a mouse? ♪
But everything pointed toward it being a hit.
♪ Get some space Get out of this place ♪
♪ Wham, bam, I am a man ♪
♪ Job or no job You can't tell me that I'm not ♪
♪ Do you enjoy what you do? ♪
♪ If not, just stop ♪
♪ Don't stay there and rot ♪
The label, on that first single,
credited Andrew Ridgeley and G Panos.
Panos was a shortening of Panayiotou.
There is a very urgent need for a stage name.
♪ ...are gonna pay Now reach up high ♪
♪ And touch your soul... ♪
George Michael.
George is the English version of the Greek name Georgios.
Michael is the Christian name of one of our good friend's dads.
♪ 'Cause I know that you're smart... ♪
It helped shape a persona.
- ♪ Yeah! ♪ - ♪ Say wham! ♪
- ♪ Wham! ♪ - ♪ Say bam! ♪
♪ Bam! ♪
We were convinced it was gonna be a hit.
But it didn't even make the top 100.
It was a disaster.
The record company felt that we would need to build up a fan base.
They proposed that we did personal appearances
in these small clubs up and down the length of the country.
'Cause we were D list.
Yeah, we were seriously, seriously D rate.
You'd see the same poor sods every place you went.
Like, mime artists and shit like that
that you would've seen doing the same club as you last week.
George!
Yes, George is gonna do a bit of rapping.
And even though it was embarrassing
and you were constantly being harassed by drunks and shit,
it meant that we were prepared. You know what I mean?
Away we go!
Right, some of you in the front, right,
I'm gonna ask you to sing along to some of this.
We were under massive pressure to chart,
and George came up with "Young Guns."
If "Young Guns" wasn't a hit, we would be dropped.
What the fuck is that?
♪ Hey, sucker ♪
♪ What the hell's got into you? ♪
So "Young Guns" made its way up the charts to number 72.
"Wham Rap!" had been a failure.
If this track wasn't a hit, we weren't gonna make another record,
and it stalled at number 42.
It wasn't actually gonna make it into the top 40.
And that was possibly the worst week of my life.
Christ's sake, you know? It felt bad.
I spent a week thinking,
"I'm not any good at this."
That I was wrong about something
that I believed with all my heart since I was a child.
And then we got this miracle phone call out of the blue.
We get a phone call from Top of the Pops,
asking us if we will appear because another artist had dropped out.
The only prime-time chart show.
I'd never really seen stardom above Top of the Pops, you know?
A Top of the Pops appearance was
the holy grail.
The night before, we stayed in this little hotel.
George drew the short straw and got some crib to sleep in.
And it was a child-size bed.
He had a really uncomfortable, sleepless night
with his feet poking over the end of it.
Three, two, one...
We get on stage, look at each other, and think,
"This is it. Let's do it."
♪ Hey, sucker ♪
♪ What the hell's got into you? ♪
♪ Hey, sucker ♪
♪ Now there's nothing you can do ♪
♪ Well, I hadn't seen your face Around town awhile ♪
♪ So I greeted you with a knowing smile ♪
♪ When I saw that girl upon your arm ♪
♪ I knew she'd won your heart With her fatal charm... ♪
I mean, it looks terrible when you look at it now,
but at the time, it was considered quite innovative and new,
the way we presented ourselves.
♪ Young guns having some fun ♪
♪ Crazy ladies keep 'em on the run ♪
♪ Wise guys realize... ♪
We had virtually no clothes.
I think there were about two outfits that we circulated between us.
♪ One, two, take a look at you ♪
♪ Death by matrimony ♪
There's a certain energy through the naffness, know what I mean?
♪ Get back! Hands off! Go for it! ♪
It was fairly amateurish, but we looked original.
We looked different.
♪ Young guns having some fun ♪
♪ Crazy ladies keep 'em on the run... ♪
It's such a funny dance routine when you see it.
But it worked in a weird kind of way. Everybody remembered it at the time.
We went and did it in my mum's back room.
No choreographer was gonna come up with that shit.
Wonderful! Well done, Wham!!
But that was our moment which definitely turned everything around.
The single flew up the charts.
Wham! had arrived.
A happy start to what we hope will be a great New Year.
This is Andrew from Wham!.
- Hi! - George from Wham!.
Hi.
What are your predictions for 1983 on the musical side of things?
Well, there's Wham!...
- You've made it already. - We've gotta have a number one yet.
We gotta have three number ones. Millions of number ones.
What style of music do you think's gonna be big in the summer of '83?
Ours.
Scrapbook number three.
We are a hit band and 20 years old.
Wham! have got two reasons to celebrate.
It's Andrew's birthday. Happy birthday.
And also they're in the charts with "Wham Rap!."
"Wham Rap!" was rereleased,
and it went to number eight. Amazing result.
Let's introduce the band.
- Dee. - Shirlie.
- George. - I'm Andrew.
Innervision sort of pitched us as cultural warriors.
"Wham! will shape the views
of every adolescent."
And it pressured us into writing to a certain formula.
Youth kicking against adulthood.
Let's check out some social-comment rapping
with a dance record from Wham!.
"Bad Boys" went to number two.
Massive hit.
♪ Bad boys stick together ♪
♪ Never sad boys ♪
♪ Do do do do do, woo woo! ♪
♪ Good guys... ♪
But neither of us were happy with "Bad Boys."
"Bad Boys" was simply formula.
I just didn't know what to do, and I just wrote to formula.
I absolutely hate that single.
When we started songwriting,
I was unemployed, and that informed "Wham Rap!."
The fact is, we were now a successful act.
We weren't social commentators.
We had a very strong sense of doing something different.
A vision of this kind of bright, new pop thing.
I have genuine feeling for a mainstream audience.
That's what youth culture's contribution to music was.
Pop music.
I think what's happening in England is that there's a large escapist element
creeping back into music now.
- What's the plans for the summer? - We're shooting a video in Ibiza.
- What's the new single called? - The new single's "Club Tropicana."
Three or four years ago, with the punk thing, people were shouting.
Now they're not ashamed of being young, unemployed.
They'd rather just go to a disco or a club and forget about it.
We thought we'd make this new pop music.
The fantasy that is "Club Tropicana."
A new direction.
A new identity.
Neither of us had been to Ibiza before.
We were to shoot the video in this paradise of a boutique hotel.
The legendary Pikes,
a known secret.
An escape for the rich and famous
and the celebrities of the era.
It was like pop stars, is how they live.
It was effervescent, everything George and I imagined
when we wrote the song in my parents' living room
but had never seen for real.
For us, it was beginning to really shape what Wham! was gonna become.
Two young guys
who were hedonistic.
That exuberance of youth.
"Club Tropicana" was the point where we became pure Wham!.
♪ Let me take you to the place Where membership's a smiling face ♪
♪ Brush shoulders with the stars ♪
♪ Where strangers take you by the hand And welcome you to wonderland ♪
♪ From beneath their Panamas ♪
♪ Club Tropicana, drinks are free ♪
♪ Fun and sunshine ♪
♪ There's enough for everyone... ♪
The interesting thing is that it was kind of inconceivable to me
that I would ever become the kind of pinup that I thought Andrew naturally was.
But, actually, girls found me attractive as well as Andrew.
We stayed on a couple of days after the shoot.
One morning,
the phone rang in my room,
and Yog said to me, "Can you come over and have a chat?"
Nothing out of the ordinary, as far as that goes.
I walked around the swimming pool.
I went into his room, and Shirlie was there,
which also wasn't unusual.
Shirlie and I had split up,
but we were a really close trio of friends.
Yog was in bed.
He gave Shirlie sort of a quick glance.
He said to me,
"Didn't know how to tell you this,
but I'm gay."
"If not gay, you know, bisexual."
About six months before we went to do the video for "Club Tropicana",
I'd actually had something go on that,
you know, made my attraction to men fairly clear.
I had stayed over at this guy's house.
He tried to have sex with me, and I'd been too scared.
But I realized that I wanted to stay in the bed for the night.
I wanted to be close to this guy,
which had never happened before.
And I wrote a song about that.
That's what that song was about.
♪ I watch you breathe ♪
♪ I cannot sleep... ♪
It kinda hit me really in a very kind of profound way
that something else was going on.
Once I realized that this was a part of my sexuality I couldn't ignore,
I went to come out to Andrew.
For me,
his sexuality had absolutely no bearing on... on us.
I wanted him to be happy.
I said I was gonna talk to my mum and dad and was persuaded,
in no uncertain terms, that it really wasn't the best idea.
I don't think they were trying to protect my career or their careers.
I think they were literally just thinking of my dad.
'Cause when you're 19, that's as far as...
You look at your parents. "Don't tell your dad."
"My God, your dad'll hit the roof."
We... We... We felt, you know, that he just couldn't tell his dad.
The three of us were so close at the time,
but the point being I'd really, really asked the wrong people.
I mean, you know, we were 19, 20 years old.
Our perspective was a little narrower.
That is a pivotal moment.
At that point in time, I really did. I really wanted to come out.
And then I lost my nerve completely.
And just...
...by necessity,
I went with full gusto into the progression of Wham!,
creating a new character.
You're gonna do better and better and shock everyone at how well you can do.
Forging an identity through my success.
George's songwriting was developing
at an amazing, inconceivable sort of pace.
My songwriting just wasn't developing in anything like the same way his was,
and it created a little bit of friction.
Through the album,
through recording Fantastic, we'd... we'd had a discussion.
And we talked about the fact that if we wanted to be massive,
we shouldn't share the writing.
The goals that we kind of set ourselves
could only be attained, really,
with the sort of quality of songwriting that he was able to produce.
I've always seen the writing as the gift I was meant to protect.
Never been any question about that.
It was uncomfortable for me
because songwriting was something that I...
really, how we started.
We formed a band so we could write songs, so it was a little difficult.
Andrew and I have got it out the way very quickly
and never had to discuss it again.
Your album, quite seriously, it was a great album
'cause there's not one bad track on it.
- A terrific album. - Thank you very much.
Our debut album Fantastic had got to number one.
It was an amazing thing to see.
It remained in the charts for the best part of two and a half years.
Fancy a bit of Wham!?
- Yes. - I thought you'd say that.
However, the music press didn't like "Club Tropicana" at all.
They resented that we had thrown the shackles off.
It wasn't another protest song.
I wasn't too keen on the "Casablanca" single or whatever, but...
- "Club Tropicana." - I knew it was one of those places.
"Withering, contemptuous, complete sell-out."
When your first singles came out, you had a mixed following,
so you seem to have now what we've got round here,
which is a lot of young girls madly in love with you.
Is it a change of image? It looks that way.
We started off with mainly a club audience,
a lot of girls and blokes of our own age.
And, uh, this year, we've been in a lot of national press,
and we've been in a lot of girl magazines.
- That's a choice of your own. - Yeah, it's a choice of our own.
It narked George
because people weren't taking him seriously
as a songwriter.
- George and Andrew from Wham!. Morning!
A giant banana going to...
Hugo Buckley, aged eight.
- Poynton, Cheshire. - Right, great.
As a younger man and as a younger songwriter
trying to do my best, those things really did hurt me.
Despite the music press,
we understood that we were actually moving forwards.
"Pop" became a very dirty word in England for a good four or five years.
We believe strongly in pop music as very valid,
and I think people lost sight of that.
A genuine live nationwide tour was our chance
to prove the doubters wrong.
Lovely T-shirt!
Is there no chance of cross-fading them with music?
If it was gonna be a success,
the Club Fantastic tour had to be absolutely spot on.
We never get what we want unless we direct it fairly much ourselves.
Before, it was, "It's a great idea, boys."
"What do you know? You're 19."
"You'd never know what you're talking about."
- There are certain basic... - That was a year ago.
...basic rules to presenting yourself that you know automatically,
and we've actually got that across to people now.
This is an example. Our own handiwork.
It's the program for the tour.
I was supremely aware that if I left the imagery to Andrew,
kids kinda loved it.
The outfits in the show had to represent exuberance of youth,
fun and excitement.
I'd admired Andrew since we were kids,
his kind of sense of style.
I place a lot of that with him, you know?
So I pushed the sportswear look.
I chose red, and for some...
probably 'cause he was colorblind...
...Yog chose canary yellow.
We'd been joined by a new singer,
Helen DeMacque, who we knew as Pepsi.
She just slotted in beautifully
and was a huge asset to us, as was Shirlie.
They added glamour and a different kind of energy.
There's no... There's nobody...
It was weeks and weeks and weeks of rehearsal.
George being George,
it was about detail.
And in George's case, forensic detail.
So much of how he defined himself was wrapped up in his music.
And I went from being Andrew's kind of shadow
to being really in the center of attention.
One, two...
♪ Move it, move it, baby ♪
♪ Can't you see I'm ready to dance? ♪
♪ And I can't stop this rhythm In my heart ♪
♪ Move it, move it, baby Can't you see... ♪
And it was time to go on the road.
♪ Shuffle on your feet Till the floor is hot ♪
♪ Gonna make a lot of money Gonna break your heart... ♪
The music's really good. I think they're really fit and gorgeous.
- They're lovely. - The music's fantastic.
Both are gorgeous!
I was determined to be noticed for what I did.
What I didn't realize was gonna happen, obviously Andrew starting it off,
didn't realize that I was going to be selling my physical persona.
All the kind of nonsense that was borne out of that
took me up a road that I never thought I was gonna go on.
I never, ever saw myself as being a kind of teen idol
or anything like that.
I was really shy, so,
to justify this kind of showy character
that was the complete antithesis of who I was growing up...
I said
that's the thing I put on.
♪ Hey, sucker ♪
♪ What the hell's got into you? ♪
♪ Hey, sucker... ♪
The reaction was stunning everywhere we went.
It was absolutely nuts.
Both of us were absolutely fizzing.
To sort of up the ante even more,
George would run a shuttlecock up and down his glistening, sweaty arm,
and he'd drop it down his shorts, and then he'd sling it in the crowd.
They went nuts.
Everybody!
♪ Young guns having some fun ♪
♪ Crazy ladies keep 'em on the run ♪
♪ Wise guys realize There's danger in emotional ties... ♪
We keep getting bombarded with, you know, bangles.
- We got dolly mixture... - The garter. Did you get the garter?
- No. I got a bra last night. - Lovely big red and black garter.
A pair of knickers the other night. You see them?
It's great. I mean, I love it.
Would you rather do anything else?
Not right now. What's it, Saturday night?
Down the Palace or something? Not really, no.
It's fantastic. We're starting to get used to it.
We're starting to expect it, really.
But, I mean, it's fantastic. It still doesn't make any sense, really.
It took us both by surprise.
The madness that was going on around us.
But for him, he got a high from it.
The whole Wham!, thousands of girls screaming at you thing.
Once I had a taste of it,
it was very addictive
and because I was very insecure, it was extremely addictive.
♪ A new state of mind ♪
This is a number called "Good Times."
♪ Good times... ♪
Wham!-mania had started.
♪ Happy days are here again... ♪
George and his partner Andrew, best known for their knees
displayed in different pairs of shorts onstage
during their triumphant British tour.
They're a very sexy band. It was wonderful.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Wham!
Thank you very much.
Is anyone coming to see us at Whitley Bay tomorrow?
Okay, great.
♪ I think I want to Live the sporting life... ♪
Come on!
Wham! 1984 calendar.
- Go straight to... - The first...
No, no, no. December is the best month.
♪ Leave your cares behind ♪
♪ These are the good times ♪
We had a number-one album.
The tour was an absolute triumph.
Somebody! Anybody! Everybody!
The press interest was off the scale.
Absolutely amazing. Absolutely brilliant.
We had a string of hit singles.
And we had
zero money.
Andrew and I both came home off tour
and would go home to Mum and Dad. It was literally that bad.
Have you made a lot of money?
Um...
No, not really, and what money we've made, we probably won't get to see
because it gets spent before you get to see it.
Um...
There are reasons why we haven't made anything like as much money
as most people would probably believe,
but, you know...
You're well on the way to success. Is money coming in?
Ask my mum. She's out there.
- Is she here? - Yes.
- You bought things? - I bought a jumper.
- It cost nearly as much as the car. - Lavish. We're really lavish.
It was absolutely ludicrous.
We received 4% apiece on singles in the UK
and 2% in the rest of the world.
Right. We didn't get any money on 12 inches,
which is what, principally, were selling at the time.
I mean, the whole thing was laughable.
When they first come to the record company,
all they want is fame. Money, secondary.
And suddenly they make it,
and six months later, they're still sitting on the bus,
saying, "Shouldn't we have some money for doing this as well?"
"Why is it held up in pipeline royalties?"
"Why is it here?" "Why is it there?" That's when the trouble begins.
Two 18-year-old boys being taken to a greasy spoon.
The issue is, was it fair on the day it was signed?
How can you call being told
that they're not gonna have their big chance at stardom
if they don't sign this piece of paper...
How is that fair?
We needed management.
Now, I've got this book here, You Don't Have To Say You Love Me,
and it was written by Simon Napier-Bell,
who's actually here with me.
In the '60s, Simon was a bit of a Svengali.
I really took to Simon.
On Top of the Pops, they projected themselves
in a way which no other group from Top of the Pops I'd ever seen had done.
Both as a group, in that they understood
how to use Top of the Pops to project themselves,
and they came across with this incredible sort of erotic intimacy.
Anyone we met had to give us that confidence,
and no one had until Simon.
And so a new deal was signed directly with CBS.
♪ Feel all right, huh! ♪
♪ Feel pretty good, y'all ♪
♪ Uh! ♪
♪ Nah, na-na-na-na ♪
♪ Na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na ♪
♪ Na-na-na-na, come on y'all Let's say it one more time... ♪
It was around that point that it was decided
just what to do with "Careless Whisper."
So George went to Muscle Shoals Studio in Alabama.
I had to record it with Jerry Wexler,
Aretha Franklin's producer and Ray Charles' producer,
and his session guys, who are called the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section,
and they had the most stunning repertoire of work.
And I was absolutely shitting myself.
♪ Oh, come back, baby ♪
♪ Baby, please don't go... ♪
George respected Jerry Wexler hugely
and was a little in awe of the great man.
I would stand there, ready to do my "I feel so unsure,"
and Jerry would say...
Stand by.
"Remember, George, that's where Aretha Franklin sang "Respect,"
or, "Now, just remember, George,
that's where Ray Charles sang "When a Man Loves a Woman."
And you're like... "Oh, thank you."
Right? Just before you do your weedy little thing
that you wrote on the bus.
I was really keen to hear what had been done with the track
because we'd cowritten it together, and we knew what it should sound like.
I thought, "It's got Jerry Wexler's name on it."
"It must be fantastic."
Yog came back,
and he said, "Just have a listen."
♪ As I take your hand ♪
♪ And lead you ♪
♪ To the dancefloor... ♪
It had been eviscerated.
It lost all its character, its essence.
It was average,
and he said, "I don't like it either."
So it was a bit limp. It was mostly down to me.
Then it was suddenly, "You gotta produce it yourself."
♪ Though it's easy ♪
I then decided that I didn't actually want the Jerry Wexler mix
to be the final record, and I went in and recorded the whole record again.
And thank Christ I did.
When he took the decision to record "Careless Whisper"
the way that he wanted it to sound,
George went through ten sax players...
...before Steve Gregory came in and nailed the part.
The production of "Careless Whisper" was the second occasion, really,
where he'd produced a track solely to his vision.
Yes, I had also produced a catchy song.
I remember
staying at Andrew's house,
staying in the spare bedroom, getting up in the morning...
And I'd pinned a note on my bedroom door,
and I'd made a mistake.
I'd written, "Wake me up up before you go,"
so I just amended the "go" to "go go."
It struck me that that was somehow a wonderful title for a song.
♪ Jitterbug ♪
Next thing you know...
..."Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."
- ♪ You put the boom-boom into my heart ♪ - ♪ Ooh-ooh ♪
♪ You send my soul sky high When your loving starts ♪
♪ Jitterbug into my... ♪
And people loved it.
♪ Goes a-bang-bang-bang Till my feet do the same... ♪
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"!
♪ Something ain't right My best friend told me what you did... ♪
Wham!!
♪ Left me sleeping in my bed... ♪
With "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," it's Wham!!
♪ ...with you instead ♪
♪ Wake me up before you go-go ♪
♪ Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo ♪
♪ Wake me up before... ♪
"Wake Me Up" became our first number one.
♪ When you hit that high... ♪
- What did you do to celebrate? - A party at my dad's restaurant.
♪ 'Cause I'm not planning on going solo ♪
♪ Wake me up before you go-go, ah ♪
♪ Take me dancing tonight... ♪
Massive validation of his ability to write hit songs that he could deliver.
♪ I wanna hit that high ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah... ♪
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" jumped out
compared to the album that I had co-produced
the year before.
So, suddenly, it's not just a singer-writer.
It's a singer-writer-producer.
The musical community took the piss.
"I mean, how can they look like that and make music like this?"
♪ Everything will be all right ♪
♪ Wake me up before you go-go... ♪
"How can the country be in love with these two idiots?"
♪ Wake me up before you go-go, ah ♪
♪ Take me dancing tonight... ♪
Your record has been slagged in the press.
Slagged, yeah.
- ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, baby! ♪ - ♪ Jitterbug ♪
If I was listening to someone singing that now,
and I knew that they'd written it, produced it, and sung it,
I wouldn't be taking the piss out of them
because they wore terrible clothes. D'you know what I'm saying?
♪ Cuddle up, baby Move in tight... ♪
For a fucking 20-year-old.
♪ ...tomorrow night ♪
♪ It's cold out there But it's warm in bed... ♪
Why the fuck would they be taking the piss out of me?
♪ We'll stay home instead ♪
♪ Jitterbug ♪
♪ Wake me up before you go-go... ♪
After the success of "Wake Me Up,"
we went on to record the second album.
The decision was taken to record it in the South of France.
Our label was like, "You've gotta produce it yourself,"
whereas on the first one, I hadn't been allowed to do it myself. You know?
Château Miraval was an excellent creative environment
in which to work.
George liked to write almost exclusively as part of the recording process.
Into my most private place,
which is really being in the studio.
I'm a producer before I'm a singer sometimes.
Andy's guitar is on 10, really, and Hugh's is on 11.
I construct what I do
and literally work for hours and hours and hours.
My contribution to the writing and recording
was now limited to the recording.
Whilst we had taken that decision,
it was... it was slightly difficult.
But it was a sacrifice that I felt I had to make.
Contrary to what people say, that Andrew had no part in Wham!,
it was totally the opposite. Wham! was Andrew.
And George, when he was younger, copied Andrew.
It was Andrew and Andrew, the real Andrew and the fake one.
But as time went on, I think George,
partly because he really did feel that the group wasn't him,
uh... he put more and more effort into the songwriting and production,
and Andrew was reasonably indifferent to that
and was an easy-going person, so he let George do it.
By this point,
we could see that his songwriting was taking him in a direction
that was different from mine.
But he was my best friend,
and to be a part of that evolution would be a great thing.
I don't think George really recognized his own talent
until two, three years ago.
I don't think he was fully aware of what he could achieve,
and, I mean, he's grown in confidence
so much.
♪ Do, do, do... ♪
♪ But you know that I'll forgive you... ♪
When I write a melody in my head,
something at the back of my neck just knows that I've hit it.
It's almost like it was already there,
but you hadn't spotted where it was yet.
It's almost like it comes to you fully formed,
and you just pulled it out of nowhere.
And the feeling that you have that makes you shiver
is that you found it.
♪ Somebody tell me, oh ♪
♪ Won't you tell me? ♪
♪ Why I work... ♪
Yog was very certain of where his talent could take him.
My life was a bit more straightforward.
I was living in the moment.
George let me take my bib off tonight.
I never felt that our music defined me in the same way that it did for George.
His songwriting was becoming the vehicle
through which he could draw out the person he wanted to be.
I knew exactly who I was.
If you think about what I was trying to do,
as long as I was proud of the songs, that was my goal.
George was very sure of himself when it came to making music,
but he was less certain in the personal aspect of his life.
"Freedom" was the first track Yog played to me as it was being recorded.
It could equally have related to, uh, his sexuality.
♪ Like a prisoner who has his own key ♪
♪ But I can't escape until you love me... ♪
"A prisoner who has his own key" and a "lover with another,"
you know, he's definitely referring to his own... dilemmas.
As a young gay man,
I knew I was just uncomfortable 'cause I was closeted.
And then I was still kidding myself that I was bisexual.
Hang on to the little part of myself that was attracted to women.
At that point, you know,
if you're making...
if your goal is to become
the biggest-selling artist of, you know, that year or two,
you're not gonna make life difficult for yourself, are you?
I was too young and too immature
to know that I was sacrificing as much as I was.
As a young man who was still trying to find himself,
I knew Yog had lacked confidence.
But I was unaware of just how deep-seated the issues really were.
I have a memory of that feeling of insecurity
as a child.
And the kind of scared teenager I was felt very vulnerable.
I mean, for many years,
my support system was Andrew.
I was self-assured.
One school report cited me as "disruptive."
Andrew, a very sort of confident boy.
A very cocky boy, you know.
George was a quiet boy.
Andrew was a leader.
Our fathers both came from abroad.
My dad's family were from Egypt.
My father was from Cyprus.
My father's father was a shepherd.
And my father worked his arse off and reaped the rewards.
Jack viewed me with a fair degree of skepticism.
My mum and dad thought Andrew was the worst thing
that could ever have happened to me.
I'd visit his house, rifle through the record collection.
We talked about Elton's album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
One of the albums upon which our friendship was built.
We became firm friends.
♪ I'm an alligator... ♪
By about the age of 14,
I'd completely lost any interest in education, such as it was.
And I had this idea that, "Well, you get your A-levels,
then you do a job for a while."
No.
All I could think about was being in a band with George.
Andrew had been quite an influence on me.
He felt the pressure from his mum and dad
far more acutely than I did from mine.
I came from a very oppressive household.
Because being the domineering father I have been or I am,
I wanted to dictate terms with him.
My father's idea was obviously for me to have an academic career.
I wanted him to become a doctor, an accountant.
Behave like I expect you to behave, you know?
I said, "You couldn't sing to save your life anyway."
My father banned me from using the stereo
and banned me from buying records.
He was obviously gonna make me stop wasting my time
on dreams of the music business.
I phoned up Yog and said, "Look, we're forming a band now."
"No, no, I don't think I can. I don't think we can."
I provided the sort of thrust.
He... He reluctantly agreed.
Andrew was this kind of idol that I had.
He was the first person that I'd ever hung around with
that was much stronger than me. Almost everything came from Andrew.
Andrew changed my life in exactly the way someone needed to change my life
if I was gonna be a pop star.
Georgios Panayiotou,
who had struggled always to define themselves inwardly,
physically, his sexuality,
transformed into...
...George Michael.
♪ Time can never mend ♪
♪ The careless whispers of a good friend ♪
♪ To the heart and mind ♪
♪ Ignorance is kind ♪
♪ There's no comfort in the truth ♪
♪ Pain is all you'll find... ♪
We knew that "Careless Whisper" was the big single
right from the beginning of Wham!.
♪ Should've known better, yeah... ♪
I told George that I completely supported the idea
of him releasing the song as a solo single.
You know, there wasn't any kind of wrangling.
We always understood that there would be a point
where there was a crossover between Wham! and the start of my solo career.
♪ I feel so unsure ♪
♪ As I take your hand ♪
♪ And lead you to the dance floor ♪
♪ As the music dies ♪
♪ Something in your eyes ♪
♪ Calls to mind a silver screen ♪
♪ And all its sad goodbyes ♪
♪ I'm never gonna dance again ♪
♪ Guilty feet have got no rhythm ♪
♪ Though it's easy to pretend ♪
♪ I know you're not a fool... ♪
But the song would be billed in the US
as "Wham! featuring George Michael."
The thinking beyond the move was while Wham! was huge at home...
♪ Tonight the music seems so loud... ♪
...we weren't quite there in America.
♪ ...lose this crowd ♪
♪ Maybe it's better this way ♪
♪ We'd hurt each other With the things we want to say... ♪
We wanted to sell out stadiums, tour the world.
We wanted to conquer America.
George was never going to abandon the Wham! project
without us fulfilling our goals.
Scrapbook 16.
We're talking with Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael.
Your first real, major visit to the States.
It's all part of marketing.
They like you to go in first time and just...
To whet the appetite for the Yanks.
- Lay the groundwork, as they say. - Yeah.
I'm district manager for Sam Goody's. We're having an in-store with Wham!,
and we're having a huge turnout, the biggest one we've ever had.
Since '81, I've been a large fan of them. See?
Official Wham! T-shirt.
Why are they so popular? Nobody knows who they are.
They're popular in the clubs in New York.
- They're so gorgeous. - I know.
"Wake Me Up," our first US number one.
It was a huge foot in the door, but whilst it elevated us,
it didn't confirm us as a big artist in the States,
and we knew there was a whole lot of work still to do.
And everyone still wanted to know really who we were.
And, of course, they wanted to know about the girls.
You probably have girls following you everywhere.
Teenage girls, and maybe a couple of...
A few older ones.
...following you everywhere. Is it hard to be so well known?
It's something you learn to live with and you accept.
There are many rockers who are in it for the girls, the groupies.
These things don't seem to interest you all at all.
Oh, they interest us,
but, I mean, you know, you have to take them... take them, um, in your stride.
- That's the wrong way to say it. - They're not...
- After a while... - They're not paramount.
If I can keep my, uh, feet on the ground, then I think we'll be all right.
And, like, what the fuck are you gonna do?
If you have the option of hiding, what else are you gonna do at that age?
To me, the whole kind of scream experience
that Wham! was based on
couldn't possibly be seen as anything other than worrying.
George is totally aware of his own market. With any artist, you're selling image,
and the strongest image to anybody is a sexually identifiable image.
That's how everything is sold.
Tabloid interest grew in that spotlight of press intrusion.
I was rather more poorly behaved than George.
- Andrew was partying pretty hard. - I was portrayed as Randy Andy.
♪ Somebody told me... ♪
Animal Andy.
The press were so focused on my behavior that George flew under the radar.
I became a bit of a lightning rod.
A foil for me, you know, in the public sense.
♪ Is out of reach, not good enough ♪
♪ I don't know What the hell you want from me, oh... ♪
Basically, all through that time, I'd had three girlfriends,
and I'd cruise as well,
out in the suburbs where I grew up.
Confused boy, wasn't I, really, at the time?
- ♪ Do do do ♪ - ♪ La la la la la... ♪
I deluded myself.
- ♪ Somebody tell me, oh ♪ - ♪ Won't you tell me? ♪
- ♪ Why I work so hard for you ♪ - ♪ Give you money... ♪
We went on a major UK tour.
♪ And now you tell me That you're having my baby ♪
♪ I'll tell you that I'm happy If you want me to... ♪
It was a far bigger scale.
♪ One step further ♪
♪ And my back will break ♪
♪ If my best isn't... ♪
And we were selling out arenas.
We had fun with the album title.
Wham! Make It Big.
It was George's idea. It was a great idea.
It amused us immensely,
and that was one of the primary drivers for a lot of things we did.
We were gonna take it around the world.
It's Wham! Day and coming to you from an exotic location...
♪ How can it be good enough for two? ♪
Because Wham! are big all around the world.
To get a glimpse of Wham!,
they camped overnight at Melbourne Airport.
Wham!
- ♪ Somebody tell me, oh ♪ - ♪ Won't you tell me? ♪
- ♪ Why I work so hard for you ♪ - ♪ Give you money ♪
♪ Oh, to give you money, oh! ♪
But despite a successful tour,
for George,
chart position was the ultimate validation of his talent.
To get to number one really mattered to him.
♪ Oh! ♪
♪ Why do I do the things I do? ♪
♪ I'd tell you if I knew... ♪
George needed success as a songwriter
for personal affirmation.
♪ I don't even think that I love you ♪
One Sunday,
at his mum and dad's house, there was a football match on the TV.
No one was in except Andrew and I.
And Yog just sat up bolt upright and said, "I've gotta go upstairs."
"I've got an idea."
And I wrote it on one of those four-track portastudios.
I went downstairs, and I said to Andrew, "I've done it."
I said, "We're gonna have four number ones this year,
and we're gonna have a Christmas number one,
and I've just written it."
I played it to him, and he went, "Fuck yeah, that's... Yeah."
Know what I mean?
♪ Happy Christmas ♪
The "Last Christmas" video shoot,
we shot it in Saas-Fee in Switzerland,
high in the Alps.
♪ Ah, ah ♪
♪ Last Christmas, I gave you my heart ♪
♪ But the very next day You gave it away ♪
♪ This year... ♪
Christmas was a big deal for Yog, always.
"Last Christmas" had to convey all of that.
♪ Last Christmas... ♪
That sense of Christmas as we perceived it, a fantasy.
♪ You gave it away... ♪
"Last Christmas" was all our mates, basically.
And we had a whale of a time.
- ♪ ...to someone special ♪ - ♪ Special ♪
Spirits were really high, as you can imagine.
We were so taking the piss out of ourselves.
♪ Once bitten and twice shy... ♪
And I remember, as we went through the filming of the day...
The assistant director, in his wisdom,
had filled each glass to the brim.
Real booze, loads of booze.
♪ It doesn't surprise me ♪
And I think our joint humor went into so much of what we did.
I think there was a deliberate attempt
at avoiding true slickness at all costs.
♪ ...what a fool I've been... ♪
You know, it went downhill from there.
Knockin' it back, getting gradually more drunk.
♪ Last Christmas, I gave you my heart... ♪
What I think's funny is how much hair there is.
You can barely see the people for all the hair.
♪ This year, to save me from tears ♪
♪ I'll give it to someone special... ♪
It was mayhem.
It was a remarkable video shoot that it ever got made, actually,
to be honest with you.
♪ But you tore him apart ♪
♪ Maybe next year... ♪
We knew we had a number one on our hands.
The release was for the second week in December.
The Ethiopian famine appeal
will be boosted by sales of a special pop record.
Over 25 stars sang for nothing at today's recording session in London,
and all the proceeds will go to famine relief.
When we returned from Saas-Fee,
the office sent a request
to attend a recording for a charity record.
When Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats
saw the TV pictures from Ethiopia,
he decided he had to do something,
and he found his rock-music friends felt the same.
So George Michael of Wham!, Sting of the Police,
Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet,
Bananarama, and a score of other stars
gathered to record a Christmas song with a message,
from which all the profits will go to Ethiopia.
♪ Feed the world... ♪
I always get really shy when there's loads and loads of other pop stars about.
I just tend to clam up a bit.
But it's been good. The song's really catchy.
It's a major threat to our fourth number one.
Fourth number one. What's your next single?
It's called "Last Christmas." It's a Christmas single.
- Is it very Christmassy? - Very.
I can't ask you to sing a bit. You'll get mortified.
- You can't ask? I'll sing you a bit. - All right.
- It goes... - Right.
♪ Last Christmas, I gave you my heart ♪
♪ But the very next day You gave it away... ♪
- I'm not giving you any more than that. - That was good.
I'll go and tell all my girlfriends, "George sang to me."
♪ But say a prayer... ♪
That's what was so ironic about Band Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
Everyone else was just thinking how fantastic it is.
It's gonna be great. It's gonna be number one.
It's gonna be this, that.
And I had all those same feelings about it,
but I just had this little bastard ego thing
that I just had to keep squashing that was going, "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"
"Shit!" You know what I mean?"
Because this little ego inside me had had the master plan
for the four number one singles this year,
and it had all worked. Everything was ready.
The final BBC top 20 of 1984.
Wham! with "Last Christmas," still at number two.
And at number one for the second week, number one for Christmas, Band Aid.
♪ Feed the world... ♪
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" became an absolutely monster hit.
♪ No rain or rivers flow... ♪
The world responded.
♪ Do they know it's... ♪
Some good news this morning from Wham!.
Even though they're at number two, haven't made number one,
they are donating all the royalties of their record worldwide
to the Ethiopia fund,
so that's numbers one and two
totally in aid of the Ethiopia famine fund.
It was still a strange feeling to drive home
'cause, you know, with the best will in the world,
trying to be the greatest altruist in the world,
and having given every penny that "Last Christmas" has ever made
to African relief funds,
and that bastard little... little... that bastard insecure little thing
that wanted his four number ones that year, you know...
It's irrational
and comes from a place of fear.
Whilst I was happy just being in a band,
George needed more.
He needed recognition. That was what he wanted.
Affirmation of who he was.
The award season continues.
The official Oscars of the music business
were presented at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Probably one of the best songwriters out of Britain
for a long time.
And that's serious.
People tend to put Wham! down as a teenybopper band that won't last.
The people that put them down are the bands that won't last.
I'm experienced enough to know. You can tell a great songwriter.
On stage, I compared him to Barry Gibb, Paul McCartney,
John Lennon, people like that. Um...
He has got what Bowie and I would've loved to have had
when we were 21, 22.
Um...
And I'm not talking about performing on stage, records...
The man's a great songwriter, and this award ceremony today,
it's about songwriting.
It's the most important thing that I've ever received
and that's happened to me.
And, uh, I'd just like to say thank you to BASCA
and thank you to everyone who's bought our records
for the last couple of years. Thank you.
I was kind of in shock that that had happened.
The idea of being in the same room with famous people
that actually recognize you as a musician, people like Elton John, you know...
It took me a long time to get used to the idea.
Scrapbook 25.
China.
♪ Every day, I hear a different story ♪
♪ People saying That you're no good for me ♪
♪ Saw your lover with another ♪
♪ And she's making a fool of you ♪
♪ Oh... ♪
It is indeed a rare privilege...
...to say that my partner, Andrew, and I are deeply honored...
I'm not gonna be able to read my own handwriting.
Nothing new, is it?
Our manager, Simon, proposed to us
that we do a couple of shows in China.
And it was a very clever idea.
America was really interested in Communist China.
As the first modern pop group ever to go...
My stupid partner and myself...
...we'd attract global attention...
♪ I don't want your freedom... ♪
...and bust America open wide.
Let's get down to truth here.
...are deeply flattered and privileged by the invitation
to play in front of the Chinese "pube-lic."
♪ I don't need your freedom ♪
♪ Girl, all I want right now is you ♪
♪ Do, do, do ♪
♪ Whoa, whoa, yeah ♪
♪ You put the boom-boom Into my heart ♪
♪ You send my soul sky high When your loving starts ♪
- ♪ Jitterbug into my brain ♪ - ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Goes a-bang-bang-bang Till my feet do the same... ♪
Our idea was to project fun, exuberance.
The values of Wham!.
Our band and Shirlie and Pepsi, everyone was committed.
One, two, three...
♪ See me, single and free No fears, no tears, what I want to be ♪
♪ One, two, take a look at you ♪
♪ Death by matrimony ♪
♪ Whoo! ♪
In Peking last night, it was a two-man cultural revolution.
On stage, the British pop duo called Wham!
in the first big-name Western rock concert ever on mainland China.
You won't be able to see the person in New York
who's interviewing you, but you'll be able to hear their audio.
Look, we're on telly.
Wham! in China.
Good morning, George. Good morning, Andrew.
- Morning. - Good evening, Phyllis.
George, let's... George is the blond,
and Andrew is the brunette.
I say this because this is a first for you all.
Everybody's so excited to have you all on our television here.
Andrew, he's just really never been called a brunette here.
- Oh. - That's very flattering, Phyllis.
Why do you think that they allowed Wham! to perform there?
I think they see us as fairly safe
because we don't really represent rock and roll.
We represent more, you know... I don't know, show business, pop,
but the videos and the records,
which, after all, is all they know about us,
haven't shown any kind of real rock and roll,
sex and drugs angle, I suppose.
You're saying because of your clean cut, wholesome image?
Yeah. Onstage, anyway.
Wait a minute. What are you like offstage?
A lot of our viewers would like to know.
I'm sure they'd like to know. We'll let them use their imaginations.
Okay. Thank you, George, Andrew. You're terrific.
That was all right.
Right, let's go out on the town. Pick up some birds. Do the business.
- Is that cold? - Yeah.
Best air conditioning in, uh...
"Chinois."
♪ Baby, I'm your man ♪
It really did make that difference in America.
The press response was massive.
In Communist China, Wham! prompted millions of new swingers.
Rock has come to China in concert form to see the British rock group Wham!.
♪ Do it right ♪
♪ Right, do it with me ♪
♪ If you're gonna do it... ♪
It did elevate our status
as a global phenomenon.
♪ So good, you're divine... ♪
But at the same time, I had this little voice inside going,
you know, "What am I gonna do?"
I was intelligent enough to know that this was the wrong road.
If I was looking for happiness,
I should not be trying to catch up with Michael Jackson
or Madonna or whatever,
which was absolutely what I was intent on doing.
The character that he was having to present
was so hard to reconcile with what he needed emotionally.
I wanna be able to develop as a human being,
but I feel trapped.
His future as a solo artist
was dependent on Wham! becoming as successful
as the likes of Prince or Elton.
I don't think there's any way I could've controlled my ego enough
to have stopped me exploring the possibility
of being the biggest-selling artist in the world.
Andy!
However distressing I was beginning to find fame,
my ego couldn't possibly have been stopped at that time.
After Band Aid,
a live event was conceived called Live Aid. It was a global event.
Yog had been invited to perform with Elton John.
The show will be seen by more than one billion people,
and some of the younger performers may be a little nervous tomorrow.
I don't know anything about the billion people.
It's gonna be difficult enough for me there being 75,000 in front of me
because I've never played in front of that many people.
It was a chance for him to shine globally.
Onstage, Mr. George Michael.
And the song "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
was stitched into George's musical DNA.
♪ But you misread... ♪
I idolized Elton as a child,
and when I'm with him,
I get a little voice from a nine-year-old, you know, "God, I can't believe I'm here!"
♪ Closed the door ♪
♪ And left me blinded ♪
♪ By the light... ♪
- Everyone! -
♪ Don't let the sun go down on me, yeah ♪
♪ Don't let the sun ♪
♪ Although I search myself ♪
♪ It's always someone else I see... ♪
Yog suggested that I might do some backing vocals.
♪ ...of your life ♪
♪ To wander free... ♪
It was nice to be invited, but it was his moment.
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ But losing everything ♪
♪ Is like the sun going down on me... ♪
George was emerging as an artist in his own right.
At Live Aid, more than a billion people got to see that for themselves.
♪ Like the sun going down on me ♪
And then the encore was bonkers because everyone was up onstage.
♪ Throw your arms around the world... ♪
We were rubbing shoulders with David Bowie and Freddie Mercury.
♪ But say a prayer ♪
♪ Pray for the other ones ♪
♪ At Christmastime, it's hard... ♪
It was a surreal experience...
- Have you had fun? -
♪ Well, tonight... ♪
...with these absolute icons of the industry.
♪ Instead of you... ♪
Everyone!
It was a huge step up.
But it was just the beginning.
♪ Ah! La, la la, la la ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ La, la la, la la ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ La, la la, la la ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah... ♪
Wham! fans young and old
came to see George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley
for their current US tour.
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ I would lock you up ♪
♪ But I could not bear To hear you screaming... ♪
The US stadium tour, Wham! America,
was a big risk.
♪ The only one that mattered Was me, me, me... ♪
At that point, Wham! had never played a stadium anywhere.
It was a big gamble.
♪ It's too late to stop Won't the heavens save me? ♪
But it paid off.
♪ Take me to the edge of heaven ♪
♪ One last time might be... ♪
The British duo that's taken the pop world by storm.
Racking up three number-one records in the United States.
In America, they were so big.
And I looked, and I thought, "God, they've all come to see my son."
Could have kissed him, hugged him, cuddled him, squeezed him. You understand?
He made me a very, very proud man.
No doubt about it. Wham! did make it big in America.
I did a very big U-turn.
Well done, boy.
♪ Baby I get excited at the things that you... ♪
At what point did you realize
you were going to be a major star in America?
It was proper superstar status.
We'd broken America.
Good night! Thank you!
You've been brilliant! See you soon.
♪ Take me to the edge of heaven ♪
♪ One last time might be forever... ♪
The success was so much more than I had ever dreamed of.
And so...
whilst we crisscrossed the States,
the questions were, "Where do we go from here?"
You've made it bigger than almost anybody this year.
How does it feel right in the middle of it?
Does it feel like it's the biggest thing in the whole world?
I think the, um...
the success in America over the last year, although we've worked very hard for it,
I think it's actually been the biggest surprise,
the actual speed of success, that we've come across
during the three years we've been in the business,
just in terms of I think that we do need some time to actually sit back,
and I think we're just gonna move on, do something different now, I think.
In reality, the turning point with Wham! was nothing to do with Wham!.
The turning point with Wham! was me as I suddenly thought,
"Oh my God, I'm a massive star,
and I'm gay,"
and the depression was about that. It was about the way I'd boxed myself in.
You know, careful what you wish for.
We had achieved everything
as that superstar band,
and we were growing up.
It got to a point where I didn't want any more of it.
Are you jealous of his solo success?
Don't mention the solo stuff!
No, I feel I'm a big part of it, you know?
- What are you gonna do when it stops? - What am I gonna do?
Hopefully, I'll retire with grace or do something with grace.
Because I'd come out to Andrew,
he understood there was more than a band at stake.
It was kind of my sanity,
and he didn't put any pressure on me to continue.
He already knew why I was feeling trapped.
How do you feel when George has a hit that you're not in,
and when he does music with other artists?
- Do you feel left out? - No, no. I think it's...
I think it's what he should be doing.
You know, it allows his own artistic, um... creativity to expand,
you know, which you've got to do.
You're basically saying
is that if it works for George, fine, and what works for you is fine.
Yeah.
There are occasionally rumors that you two may separate,
go opposite directions. Can you foresee such a time, Andrew?
- Such a time? There'll be a time, yeah. - Mm.
I think Andrew was ready to finish because,
much as he understood his importance,
he... he was tired of being,
you know, taken potshots at
as the lucky guy that's kind of coasted along with George Michael,
and I think, you know, he was so much more than that.
Had to end at some point.
We... We both knew that.
Thousands of Wham! fans spent the weekend queuing
to get tickets for the pop duo's farewell concert.
25,000 fans descended upon Wembley Stadium yesterday
in a bid to get tickets for their farewell concert.
Performing one show was symbolic.
There could only be one final show.
Tickets are expected to be sold out within hours.
I'm sitting next to Wham!.
Here we are.
"The legend that is George Michael," you're supposed to say.
Yeah. I'm sitting next to the legend that is George Michael.
And his friend.
Former partner.
And do you think you'll be very sad on the last concert?
Or do you think it'll be jolly?
- I think it'll be... - Happy.
I think it'll be a bit of both.
I think it'll be probably the best concert we've ever done,
and I think it'll be rather sad that it's the last.
- Disappointing if it isn't. - Mm. Let's pray that it's a nice day.
Let's all keep our fingers crossed that the sun shines,
God smiles upon us, and Wham! ends as it began,
with a smile on its face.
Fantastic ending.
- I love you. - Tore at my heartstrings.
We want Wham!! We want Wham!! We want Wham!! We want Wham!!
Andrew, George, ITN. What's it like to play your last concert?
- We're excited. - We'll let you know afterwards.
- Yeah! - Any regrets?
None whatsoever. Huge thank you to everyone...
Not only today, but for the last four years.
- All right. - Thanks a lot.
Cheers.
One, two, three, go!
♪ Whoo! ♪
I was very proud.
I was very proud that day.
♪ Yeah ♪
And so we played the hits one more time.
Good evening!
This is "Club Tropicana."
Ladies and gentlemen, Pepsi and Shirlie!
♪ Dear Mummy, dear Daddy ♪
♪ Now I'm 19 ♪
♪ Oh yeah, I was your only son... ♪
By the end of it,
I had no doubt that I could become
an international solo success.
This one is called "Wake Me Up Before You..."
Go-Go!
By the time we stepped out on that stage,
the second incarnation was almost complete.
Yog
has become the artist that he was destined to be.
♪ And you do... ♪
One more time!
♪ I don't want your freedom ♪
♪ I don't want to play around ♪
♪ I don't want nobody, baby ♪
♪ Part-time love just brings me down ♪
♪ Do, do, do ♪
♪ Whoa, whoa, yeah! ♪
♪ Do, do, do, do, do, do ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Whoa! ♪
Thank you very much! Good night! You've been brilliant!
There was this overwhelming feeling of pride
that we had made such an impression in four years.
To see that an awful lot of the people that were there
were there because Wham! represented that part of their youth to them.
Wham! was never gonna be middle-aged or be anything other than that
essential and pure representation of us as youths.
We all wake up in the middle of our dreams.
Suddenly, it's not there.
Wham! as us, as what we were together,
was at an end.
If I was gonna go to the place that I believed I was about to go to,
there was no way that we could hang out in the way that we had always done.
There was just no way. It would've been too difficult for Andrew.
So it was a sad day in some ways.
It was the end of something.
Thank you, everyone, for coming tonight. Thank you, George.
George embraced me and said, "I couldn't have done it without you."
It said everything that he needed to say to me.
The fact that we'd,
you know, we'd achieved such huge success together.
You know, what our friendship represented.
We were gonna be separate, when we hadn't been since we were...
since we were kids.
I was happy for my friend.
He stood on the cusp of greatness.
But I didn't know what being George Michael truly meant.
I was on my own.
And I had no idea how much I was gonna miss that support.
And I would always remember this journey.
Absolutely beautiful and happy, you know.
Wham!.
♪ Oh! ♪
♪ Call me good ♪
♪ Call me bad ♪
♪ Call me anything you want to, baby ♪
♪ But I know, uh-huh ♪
♪ That you're sad ♪
♪ And I know I'll make you happy With the one thing that you never had ♪
♪ Baby, I'm your man ♪
♪ Don't you know that ♪
♪ Baby, I'm your man ♪
♪ You bet ♪
♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪
♪ Right, do it with me ♪
♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪
♪ Right, do it with me ♪
♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪
♪ Right, do it with me ♪
♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪
♪ Right, do it with me ♪
♪ So good, you're divine ♪
♪ Wanna take you, wanna make you ♪
♪ But they tell me it's a crime, oh ♪
♪ Everybody knows Where the good people go ♪
♪ But where we're going, baby ♪
♪ Ain't no such word as no ♪
♪ Baby, I'm your man ♪
♪ Don't you know who I am ♪
♪ Baby, I'm your man ♪
♪ You know, you bet ♪
♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪
- ♪ Right, do it with me ♪ - ♪ Come on, baby ♪
- ♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪ - ♪ Yeah, ooh, take me home ♪
- ♪ If you're gonna do it, do it right ♪ - ♪ Please don't leave me here ♪
♪ To do it on my own ♪
♪ First-class information ♪
♪ And you sense your inspiration ♪
♪ With some stimulation ♪
♪ Ooh, yeah ♪
♪ Do it right, oh... ♪