![]() ![]() Debut single "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)" was a rare foray by white artists into the nascent hip-hop genre, and its fluffy, horn-laden clean funk belied a subtle message extolling the virtues of government social services. George's contributions to WHAM! were as terrific as they were unexpected, and the best of the best really gets to shine in this set. (WHAM! never formally reunited after their farewell gig at Wembley in 1986, though Ridgeley appeared during the encore of George's Rock in Rio set in 1991 and the pair remained close friends until Michael's tragic passing in 2016. Ridgeley also had the grace to support his friend and bandmate as he began to come to terms with identifying as gay (something he would not do publicly for over a decade, when an arrest in America cruelly forced the truth out of him) - and, perhaps most importantly for the duo's career, remained a pillar of support as Michael came into his own as one of the most gifted pop craftsmen of the decade. It was Ridgeley, long dismissed as "the other guy" in the duo, who inspired his pal "Yog" to pursue music seriously and cultivate a more confident image. George and Andrew met in an interesting twist of fate: the awkward Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou - son of a Greek father and a British mother - met the charismatic Ridgeley when transferring to a new school. discography.Įchoes from the Edge of Heaven, as well as a stunning new Netflix documentary on the duo, does more than simply shine a light on a beloved pop group. has recently sought to rectify that with a multi-format release of The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven based on WHAM!'s U.K. Surprisingly, the WHAM! oeuvre has never been comprehensively explored in the reissue era, with the 2020 Japanese Singles Collection perhaps coming closest. The second was Make It Big they did! By the time they bowed out with a clutch of singles (featured on two 1986 albums: the British compilation The Final and the American almost-an-album Music from the Edge of Heaven), George Michael was poised for solo superstardom. Their first album was entitled Fantastic it was. In a mere handful of years, WHAM! launched nearly a dozen singles into the Top 10 of the U.K. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley had everything going for them: good looks, great voices, and a knack for pure pop songcraft. WHAM! The dance-pop duo's name immediately called to mind the fantastical, onomatopoeic pop art exclamations that would appear on the '60s Batman television show.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |