Forty years after Wham! hit the big time, Ridgeley reflects on the joy of starting a successful band with his childhood best friend. He took second billing – but never with bitterness
Live Aid, 1985. In front of 72,000 people and a global audience of more than a billion, George Michael is on the brink of superstardom. He is sharing a stage with Elton John, but really everyone’s eyes are on Michael. There is a lovely moment – one of many – in the great new Wham! documentary, when the camera is on Andrew Ridgeley, relegated to singing backing vocals and positioned somewhere behind Elton’s piano. Ridgeley’s expression is of pure pride and love. There doesn’t seem to be any hint of jealousy in his joyful, beaming face, or sadness that his childhood friend is moving away from him – Michael would become a solo artist the following year.
Nearly 40 years later, Ridgeley is sitting in a room at the Sony offices in London. The Netflix documentary has been a hit, and Ridgeley has been immersed in Wham!, the band he created with Michael as teenagers, for the last few years. There’s also a 40th anniversary rerelease of Wham! singles coming, and he would love to do something with the 51 wonderful, meticulous scrapbooks his mother kept, which feature heavily in the documentary. He is wiry and boyish, articulate but not particularly given to introspection. He will talk and talk about the process of putting together Wham!’s two albums, but on emotional matters – such as Michael’s death in 2016 – he becomes more detached. “Like all losses, one learns to manage them and one comes to terms … ” he says, trailing off.
