It was an amazing frame-by-frame reimagining. It was extraordinary. I remember seeing it and thinking, they’ve got absolutely everything right.” The Wham! star charts his treasured friendship with George Michael, from their meeting at school in 1975 to George's untimely death in 2016. The duo left a legacy of pop classics from the exuberant Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go to the evergreen Last Christmas, and Ridgeley's enthusiasm for life in a chart-topping band is as infectious as their music Daily Mirror Wham! held its world premiere at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England for the 30th Sheffield DocFest on 17 June 2023 with a Q&A session after the screening with the film's director Chris Smith and Wham! member Andrew Ridgeley, both via video call. On 18 June it was given another DocFest preview at the Showroom Cinema’s Warner Chappell Production Music screen. [22] 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!.

A new documentary on Netflix, titled Wham!, is telling their story, featuring unheard interviews and never-before-seen footage from George and Andrew's personal archives. The pair were still teenagers when Wham! began to take off in 1982, having formed the duo while at school in Bushey, Hertfordshire.

Last Christmas’’s position as the biggest-selling single in UK chart history not to reach Number One (it was beaten by Band Aid’s ‘ Do They Know It’s Christmas’ – which also featured George Michael) used to piss George off. Would he have been happy that it finally topped the charts in 2020? CORRECT. After revealing he was a fan of “chap-hop”, the current Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Community intoned some of the lyrics of ‘ Wham Rap!’ – ironically about joblessness under a Conservative government – to cringes from the kids. Jammer dat Ridgeley voor het laatste jaar van Wham! minder - en zijn latere ontmoetingen met George geen tijd heeft ingeruimd. Alles bij elkaar vond ik het toch een onderhoudend boek maar niet van het kaliber Not dead yet, de recente autobiografie van drumopa Phil Collins.

Wham! announce stunning singles box set Echoes from the Edge of Heaven". Smooth Radio. 27 April 2023 . Retrieved 28 July 2023. In 1975 Andrew took a shy new boy at school under his wing. They instantly hit it off and their boyhood escapades at Bushey Meads School built a bond that was never broken. The duo found themselves riding an astonishing rollercoaster 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. Both went on to have solo careers, with George continuing to make music and release an album two and a half years before his death on Christmas day in 2016. Here's a look at what Andrew did following Wham!'s split.Lemire, Christy (5 July 2023). "Wham! movie review & film summary (2023)". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved 6 July 2023. Murray, Noel (5 July 2023). "Review: Relive the whirlwind that was 'Wham!' from the inside out". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2 August 2023. This book kind of reminds me of the book Cured, by Lol Tolhurst, in which he tells the stories of the beginning of The Cure and his friendship during the band's very formative years between himself and Robert Smith. zet George op een voetstuk als één van de beste zangers en songwriters van zijn generatie, iemand die niet onderdoet voor Freddie Mercury en Elton John.