Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads School in Bushey near Watford, England, UK. At first, they performed in a short-lived ska band called The Executive. When this group split, Michael and Ridgeley formed a duo called Wham! and went on to sign with Innervision Records. The duo later sued Innervision to be released from their contract. The group then signed with CBS, Columbia Records in the United States and Canada and Epic Records for the rest of the world.
Michael took on the majority of roles and responsibilities within the band— composer, singer, producer, and occasional instrumentalist— but the contribution of Ridgeley as the group's image specialist and spokesman was crucial to the band's initial success [1]. Ridgeley convinced a reluctant George Michael that Wham! needed to change their image and sound frequently, from the leather-clad moody singers of "Bad Boys" and "Young Guns (Go For It!)" to the more fashionable pop superstars of "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go."
Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group [2].
The debut record to be released by the band was "Wham Rap!" in June 1982. It was one of the first ever singles by a British group to include rapping and was a double-A side with a Social Mix and Anti-Social Mix. The record was not playlisted by BBC Radio 1 in the UK, partly because of the profanity in the Anti-Social Mix. Subsequently the reissued UK release replaced the controversial lines in the first verse "B1, B2, make a claim sign your name’s all you have to do" and the opening two phrases of the second verse citing "Mr. Average". Additionally two videos were recorded for each set of lyrics. In 1983 on the UK pop show, Channel 4's The Tube, Wham! performed live the original song in full complete with the B1,B2 lines. This version was considered far better and was later released in the UK as the U.S Remix. Wham! Rap did not chart for the group but in October 1982, their song "Young Guns (Go For It!)" was issued. The song was an appeal from one youthful lad to his friend to not throw his life away so early on marriage. It also stalled outside the UK Top 40 but then Wham! got lucky when Top of the Pops scheduled them. An important weekly BBC chart show on television, it had to look outside the Top 40 to fill a gap created by an act which had pulled out of recording. Nearest to the 40 mark and still climbing, Wham! was summoned, and a phenomenon immediately began. The Top of the Pops performance of Young Guns is still considered a great moment in the group's history - critical acclaim is given for the 'nightclub' feel of the dance routine by all four of the group.
Increasing success
The effect of Wham! on the public, especially teenage girls, was felt from the moment they finished their debut performance of "Young Guns (Go For It!)" on Top of the Pops. Michael wore espadrilles, a suede jacket slit open, and rolled-up denim jeans. Ridgeley stood behind him, flanked by backing dancers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman.
The performance was as much one of acting as it was of singing, with Michael playing the part of the pleading goodtime lad, and Ridgeley the guy who had been drawn into commitment. Afterwards, the song shot into the Top 40 at #24 and peaked at #3 in December. The following year (1983), Dee C. Lee began her work with Paul Weller of The Style Council, and was replaced by Pepsi DeMacque. Holliman and DeMacque would later record music as Pepsi & Shirlie.
Wham! followed up "Young Guns (Go For It!)" with the reissue "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", a song about the joys of a leisurely life (the full version (U.S Remix) of which clocked in at almost seven minutes long); "Bad Boys", about a strained relationship between a rebellious teenage lad and his worried parents; and "Club Tropicana", a satire of the media's fascination with the elitist London club scene [3]. Each song came with a memorable music video.
By the end of 1983, Wham! was rivaling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain's biggest pop act. Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing a shuttlecock down their shorts, and their first album Fantastic reached #1.
Around this time, Ridgeley become conscious of legal problems with their initial contract at Innervision. While the legal battle raged (perhaps to raise much-needed funds for the fight), Innervision released a medley of non-single album tracks from Fantastic, entitled Club Fantastic Megamix. Wham! publicly denounced the move, and urged fans not to buy it. After all the legal wrangling, Innervision admitted there were royalty discrepancies with Wham!'s contract, leading to the bankruptcy and dissolution of Innervision.
Driven by Ridgeley, the duo changed their image, and Wham! returned in May 1984 with an updated, cutting-edge pop image quickly copied by other pop bands. In a process begun by the video to "Club Tropicana" on the previous album, Ridgeley changed the band's look from "moody in leather jackets" to smiles and fashionable clothing, with an aim to promote themselves more as hedonistic sex symbols rather than spokespeople for a disaffected generation.
Fittingly enough, these changes propelled the next single (a pop standard) to the top of the charts around the world. "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," an infectiously catchy song Michael wrote from a note left to him in his hotel room one night by Ridgeley. The note was mistakenly written by Ridgeley as "don't forget to wake me up up before you go go, George". Since he accidentally wrote the word "up" twice, Ridgeley decided to compound the error and write "go" twice. It became their first UK #1 and rose to the top in the USA, capped by a memorable video of the duo, plus the ubiquitous Pepsi and Shirlie, wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirts with the slogans CHOOSE LIFE and GO GO.
These t-shirts became popular fashion items as Hamnett wrote herself into the pop culture lexicon, having simultaneously designed the FRANKIE SAY t-shirts for Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
With some bizarre contradiction, the next single "Careless Whisper" was issued as a George Michael solo piece, yet unlike any Wham! single since "Wham Rap!," it was co-written by Ridgeley. The song, about a remorseful two-timer, had more emotional depth than previous releases and quickly reached #1, marking a new phase as George Michael tried to distance himself from Wham!'s playboy image. In the U.S. -- so as not to confuse American listeners just being exposed to Wham! -- the song was released as being by Wham! featuring George Michael. In the autumn of 1984, Wham! came back as a duo with "Freedom", another chart-topper with George Michael presented as a broken hearted romantic, and the first single for many years to reach #1 in the UK without an accompanying video (this was because the first video was canned due to its poor quality; a video was subsequently shot in time for the US release).[4] In November, they released their second album, Make It Big, which coasted to #1 on the album charts. The band set off on another arena tour at the end of 1984, and Ridgeley told Smash Hits magazine at the time that he had written a song called "Stephen". The song had been composed for a friend who was struggling to cope with bereavement.
Michael contributed to the Band Aid project, with him providing vocals as the song usurped their own Christmas release, "Last Christmas"/"Everything She Wants," the former of which featured a video set in a ski resort.
The single became the highest-selling single ever to peak at #2 in the UK charts. As such, Wham! donated all their royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal to coincide with the fundraising intentions of Band Aid, the song which beat them to the top spot. Band Aid's success meant that Michael had been at #1 within three different entities in 1984 — as a solo artist, half of a duo, and part of a charity ensemble.
[edit] China and Live Aid
In April 1985, Wham! took a break from recording to embark on an enormous world tour including a groundbreaking 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group[5]. The China excursion was a masterful publicity scheme devised by Simon Napier-Bell (one of their two managers). It culminated in a concert at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing in front of 10,000 people. Director Lindsay Anderson documented the tour in his film Foreign Skies.
Sporting a beard, Michael appeared with Ridgeley onstage at Live Aid (although they did not perform as Wham!). Michael sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with Elton John while Ridgeley joined Kiki Dee in the row of backup singers. In November, Wham! released "I'm Your Man" which went to #1 in the UK charts.
Michael began a relationship with model/makeup artist Kathy Yeung and Ridgeley with Keren Woodward of Bananarama. Ridgeley also took up the hobby of rally driving, famously crashing one car before the end of 1985. "Last Christmas" was re-issued for the festive season and again made the UK Top 10, peaking at #6, while Michael took up offers he was starting to receive to add his voice to other artists' songs. He performed backing vocals for David Cassidy, Deon Estus's song "Heaven Help Me," and for Elton John on his successful singles "Nikita" (a UK #3) and "Wrap Her Up," (a UK #12) on which he sang co-lead.
Post-Wham!
For several years after he became a solo artist, George Michael spoke in public negatively about his time in Wham!, largely because of the intense negativity of media coverage on partner Ridgeley. Michael complained of the constant pressure he felt, and he claimed that the duo had been mistreated financially. He also spoke disparagingly about the Wham! repertoire, especially the songs from the first album.
However, his perspective on the era has softened in recent times. He still performs "I'm Your Man" and "Everything She Wants," one of the more critically acclaimed songs from the Wham! era, at his solo concerts.
Like A Baby
Wham Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Blinded me to empty charms.
I crossed the ocean,
Fell into your arms
So sure, so wrong..
You sang me a simple tune,
I took if for a song.
Say goodbye
Don't tell me why you have to go
Loving you was as good as gone
As good as gone.
I'd love to know you
Really know you
But you see, there's something you should know,
I never really thought you'd go
Because today,
I would have sworn I heard you say
"I love you"
"I want you"
"I need to be with you today"
I saw something in your face
Stay here beside me,
I need your love to guide me
Your love,
But now it's gone away,
You left me crying like a baby,
Like a baby
The lyrics to Wham's song "Like A Baby" speak of the all-consuming feeling of love and the heartache and disappointment that can come with it. The first verse sets the scene of being in a foreign land, feeling lost and empty, until the singer falls into the arms of a lover. They were so sure that they had found something special, but in reality, it was just empty charms. The second verse speaks of the difficulty of saying goodbye and not understanding why someone would want to leave. The chorus reveals that the love they shared was already as good as gone, and the singer is left feeling alone and abandoned.
The bridge of the song reveals a deeper longing to truly know and understand this person they had fallen for. The singer longs to know the truth about their feelings and to feel truly loved and wanted. They are left feeling confused and heartbroken because they thought they heard signs that the love was real and strong, but in the end, it was just an illusion. The song ends with the singer crying like a baby, feeling the raw and painful emotions of a failed relationship.
Overall, "Like A Baby" is a poignant and relatable song that expresses the complex emotions of love and loss. It explores the highs and lows of relationships, from the excitement of falling in love to the devastation of heartbreak. It is a song that many listeners can identify with, and one that has stood the test of time as a classic pop ballad.
Line by Line Meaning
Foreign skies
Being in a foreign land made me oblivious to insincere attractions.
Blinded me to empty charms.
I was deceived by superficial beauty and impressed by false promises.
I crossed the ocean,
I took a long journey to find something life-changing.
Fell into your arms
I let my guard down and succumbed to your illusionary love.
So sure, so wrong..
I was certain that you were the one, but sadly mistaken.
You sang me a simple tune,
You said things that were sweet but shallow and untrue.
I took if for a song.
I believed your false promises were sincere expressions of love.
Say goodbye
Leave me, but don't provide an explanation, as it's pointless now.
Don't tell me why you have to go
I'm not interested in knowing the reasons for your departure.
Loving you was as good as gone
Our relationship was doomed from the beginning, and falling for you was a mistake.
As good as gone.
Our love never truly existed and was always on the brink of ending.
I'd love to know you
I wanted to invest more in our relationship and get to know you better.
Really know you
I desired to have a profound and meaningful relationship with you, one that would last a lifetime.
But you see, there's something you should know,
However, there's something that you must understand before you go.
I never really thought you'd go
I always assumed that you would be there and never leave me alone.
Because today,
It comes as a surprise to me now.
I would have sworn I heard you say
I believed that you verbally expressed your love for me.
"I love you"
You said you loved me
"I want you"
You expressed wanting to be with me.
"I need to be with you today"
You said you needed me to be with you immediately.
I saw something in your face
I noticed an expression on your face that suggested deep affection for me.
Stay here beside me,
I pleaded for you to not leave and continue our relationship.
I need your love to guide me
I admit that I am emotionally dependent on your love for my wellbeing.
Your love,
Your affection and care towards me.
But now it's gone away,
Now, it seems like you have completely stopped loving me.
You left me crying like a baby,
You broke my heart and left me in emotional turmoil, helpless and vulnerable, like a newborn baby.
Like a baby
Feeling as though I cannot fend for myself or live independently anymore, like an infant.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GEORGE MICHAEL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@s.k.5556
Foreign skies
They've blinded me to empty charms
I crossed the ocean
And fell into your arms
So sure, so wrong
You sang me a simple tune
I took if for a song
Say goodbye, don't tell me why you have to go
Loving you was as good as gold
As good as gold
I'd love to love you, really love you
But you see, there's something you should know
I really didn't think thought you'd go
Because today
I could have sworn I heard you say
"I love you, I want you"
"I need to be with you today"
I saw something in your face
Stay here beside me
I need your love to hide me
You lied
And now you've gone away
And left me crying like a baby
Like a baby
........Loads of love for all who remember George Michael ✨🎶✨
@cjmadison2397
My favorite song from Wham. I'm 18 and Goerge Michael is one of my favorite singers. I could listen to this on repeat especially while driving at night. God rest his soul.
@marbulostv8053
One of the greatest Artists of all Time. This Song is very relaxing.
@marcosmartinez8088
I figuring it out his music from his begining. I first listened to the Faith album and i loved it. You could listened to Prince, him and George Michael have like a similar style of music but both are really music geniuses in their own way.
@bestris1752
ok
@whamtasticedits2831
I'm 13 and he's all I listen to
@nilzaramos2667
@@whamtasticedits2831 awesome to see that youngers still listen to George!!❤
@DJHyeFXOfficial
Man, if we could only go back! I was 13 when this came out, this tune and all of Wham's tracks were the soundtrack of my youth! What a better time. I feel blessed to have grown up in such a magical time. 80s were heaven.
@groofoot
I was 13, too ... and Amen to everything you typed! <3
@monicaraines6310
Oh yeah! The 80s was totally cool. What with digging all the fabulous music and just enjoying the fun times!
@hartleyhare9455
If only..