That sounds as though you are in a relationship, I say. “No.” Pause. “I have several relationships.” Several? “Yes.” Several romantic relationships? “Yes. Love comes in a variety of forms. I had a long-term relationship with Keren [Woodward, of 1980s pop group Bananarama] for many years, and we still have a great affection for each other. 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. In 1984, Ridgeley underwent surgery to have his septum straightened to improve his breathing after having broken his nose as a child of nine. [10] After photos were published in British newspapers showing Ridgeley's bandaged face, Wham!'s manager, Simon Napier-Bell, fabricated a story that the bandages were the result of Ridgeley having been hit in the nose in a nightclub. After days of tabloid headlines, the true reason was revealed. [11] Ridgeley in 1985 But by 1986, George's decision to go solo ended the band and with that, Wham! bowed out with one last concert at Wembley. The tabloids were predictably cruel after that, claiming that Ridgeley was the weak link who didn't really contribute anything of value to the band's sound.

Andrew Ridgeley and Keren Woodward have split up". RTÉ. 5 November 2017 . Retrieved 24 December 2017.Michael, Shirlie Holliman, Dee C Lee and Ridgeley during the recording of the Club Tropicana video in Ibiza in 1983. Photograph: FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images LE COL PARTNER WITH DALLAGLIO CYCLE SLAM 2018 lecol.cc". Archived from the original on 21 December 2018 . Retrieved 20 December 2018. He described his time in the band to NME: “The nice thing about Wham! is that it was almost exclusively a joyful and positive period in both our lives. It had a beginning, middle, and an end – so it makes a great story.” 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. In April 1985, Wham! played shows in Beijing and Guangzhou, China, and in doing so, they became the first western pop act to perform in the Communist country. “It was the hardest performance I’ve ever given in my life,” Michael told the Chicago Tribune after the first gig. “I couldn't believe how quiet the crowd was at first. … I didn’t realize that they weren’t clapping because they thought we were begging for applause. And I didn’t realize that they weren’t good at clapping in time to western music because their sense of rhythm is so different to ours.”

doet bij het tweede album van Wham! een stap terug door George alle tekst en muziek te laten schrijven, iets waar hij later spijt van heeft. The million dollar question: what’s his favourite George Michael song? “Amazing,” he says, without hesitation. “It could have been a Wham! record, but it’s a brilliant George Michael record. Fantastic self-analytical lyrics, but it’s humorous, too.” His favourite Wham! song is I’m Your Man. “From the opening bar, it has an energy and a tautness.” What is also not clear are the many years between the dissolution of Wham! and the death of George Michael. I would have liked a bridge to close the gap. But it’s the end of Wham!, failed solo album for Ridgeley, failed motor racing career and then the phone call in 2016 letting him know his best mate died. I get asked, 'Do you still write songs?'" said Ridgeley. "And I suppose I could but it's an awful lot of work trying to get them played [on radio].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. When Andrew Ridgley took George Michael, the new boy at school, under his wing, he discovered a soul mate. He lived with Bananarama band member Keren Woodward in Cornwall between 1990 and 2017. Since then he has been seen with influencer Amanda Cronin. Andrew and Yog are a love story, one made all the more enduring because their love was platonic, rather than the more tempestuous romantic sort. The two met aged 12, as pupils at Hertfordshire’s Bushey Meads School, and soon became inseparable. Although he doesn’t think that the fact that they were both being the sons of immigrants – Michael’s father was Greek Cypriot; Ridgeley’s was Egyptian – was a major factor in them bonding. Main thing the book showed was they were best friends, his love and respect for George shine through and it was good to see no salaciousness or bitterness throughout the book

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”. For the firsttime, 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 inthe early eighties. As many of you know, Yog adored Christmas and he loved the idea of this film. I am sure he will be enjoying seeing Emelia [Clark]'s amazing light bulb smile, something they share, across the celestial miles! Ridgeley describes Michael’s relationship with the press as “a running battle”. “He wasn’t confrontational, at least during Wham!. But he didn’t help himself. I understand that he chose to conduct some of his personal life in a way that made it easy for the tabloids to sensationalise, and they did. It was difficult for him, and unedifying. But he wasn’t going to be cowed into changing what he wanted to do. And unfortunately, that was double edged.” In a new interview with People ahead of the Wham! documentary's release, Ridgeley recalled the last time he saw George Michael before his death in 2016.

The telling of the story through archival content with you and George as the narrators drives the WHAM! story in such a powerful way.

doet niet moeilijk als George na 2 albums de stekker uit Wham! trekt en voor een solocarrière kiest.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] He might been the superior songwriter, but Michael still looked up to his bandmate, envying his confidence. “He may have seen some aspects of my character that he could assume, that would make his life a bit easier and enable him to fulfil his ambition,” Ridgeley says modestly.