Wham!

Wham!
General information
Genre (s)	pop
founding	1981
resolution	1986
Last occupation
Singing , piano	George Michael († 2016)
Vocals, guitar	Andrew Ridgeley

12 "single from Wham !, 1983

Wham! was a British pop group formed in 1981 , which consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley .

Between the autumn of 1982 and the summer of 1986, the duo landed ten top 10 hits in Great Britain, five of which reached number one; total Wham! over 25 million records. The best-known and most commercially successful titles include Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Last Christmas , which has had a strong radio presence every year in the run-up to Christmas since its release and has repeatedly made it into the international charts.

Musical career

The original members were George Michael (born June 25, 1963 - December 25, 2016) and Andrew Ridgeley (born January 26, 1963), who also wrote most of the songs, supplemented by the background singers Dee C Lee (1982–1983), Pepsi Demacque and Shirlie Holliman . Among other things, Wham! caused a sensation when they were the first western band to play in the People's Republic of China in the spring of 1985 and released three singles from an album in the United States , all of which topped the Billboard charts . Before Wham! only the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever succeeded in doing this .

Already the first single Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do) caused controversy because it presented life financing through unemployment insurance as worth striving for, although Michael repeatedly emphasized in numerous interviews that the text of the song was meant ironically. From their first record label Innervision, with the Wham! released the first album Fantastic and the singles from it, Wham! in a fight. As against the will of Wham! the single Club Fantastic Megamix was released, Michael and Ridgeley told their fans not to buy this record.

Even while Wham! Michael, who at the time wrote and produced most of the Wham! titles single-handedly, released solo singles and thus laid the foundation for his later solo career. However, the dividing line between Michael's solo projects and Wham! blurred. His first solo single Careless Whisper , which Ridgeley was also involved in composing, was released in the US as a single by Wham! featuring George Michael and was later released on the Wham! album Make It Big . The second single, A Different Corner , appeared on the album The Final , which was released in the United States under the title Music from the Edge of Heaven . Both singles immediately reached number one in Great Britain and later also in the USA.

In February 1986, Michael and Ridgeley officially announced the dissolution of Wham! known because Michael wanted to go other ways musically from now on. Then they gave on June 28, 1986 in front of 72,000 fans at Wembley Stadium their last concert , The Final titled. In the two and a half hour farewell show also came Elton John and Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran on. The concert is considered to be one of the fastest sold-out in music history in Great Britain: the tickets for it were sold out within three minutes. Michael and Ridgeley remained on friendly terms even after the band ended.

Solo careers

Andrew Ridgeley tried his hand at the end of Wham! in vain in a solo career as a singer. His single Shake , released in the spring of 1990, only made it into the lower regions of the charts, while the album Son of Albert , released a short time later, couldn't place itself at all. Today he works as an environmental activist.

George Michael released his first solo album with Faith in the fall of 1987 , which contained four US number 1 hits . Further albums and duets with other musicians ensured that he became one of the world's most successful artists. He died in 2016 at the age of 53.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
Studio albums
1983	Fantastic	DE7 (22 weeks) DE	-	CH25 (1 week) CH	UK1 × 3 Triple platinum (116 weeks)UK	US83 gold (44 weeks)US	First published: July 9, 1983
1984	Make it big	DE5 gold (25 weeks)DE	AT4 (20 weeks) AT	CH1 (22 weeks) CH	UK1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (72 weeks)UK	US1 × 6 Six-fold platinum (87 weeks)US	First published: October 23, 1984
1986	Music from the Edge of Heaven	-	-	-	-	US10 platinum (28 weeks)US	First published: July 1, 1986
Compilations
1986	The final	DE2 gold (22 weeks)DE	AT3 (14 weeks) AT	CH2 (14 weeks) CH	UK2 platinum (67 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 31, 1986
1997	The Best of Wham !: If You Were There	DE40 (13 weeks) DE	AT23 (11 weeks) AT	CH28 (7 weeks) CH	UK4th × 2 Double platinum (38 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 24, 1997

Soundtracks

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2019	George Michael & Wham! Last Christmas: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	DE85 (1 week) DE	AT60 (1 week) AT	-	UK9 silver (9 weeks)UK	US43 (7 weeks) US	First published: November 8, 2019 with George Michael

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1982	Wham rap! (Enjoy What You Do) Fantastic	DE17 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	UK8 (12 weeks) UK	-	First published: June 16, 1982
	Young Guns (Go for It) Fantastic	DE20 (16 weeks) DE	-	-	UK3 silver (17 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 15, 1982
1983	Bad Boys Fantastic	DE12 (17 weeks) DE	-	CH6 (5 weeks) CH	UK2 silver (15 weeks)UK	US60 (9 weeks) US	First published: May 2, 1983
	Club Tropicana Fantastic	DE13 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	UK4th gold (11 weeks)UK	-	First published: July 23, 1983
	Club Fantastic Megamix Fantastic	DE56 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK15 (8 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1983
1984	Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Make It Big	DE2 (17 weeks) DE	AT6 (12 weeks) AT	CH2 (15 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (16 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (24 weeks)US	First published: May 14, 1984
	Freedom Make It Big	DE14 (15 weeks) DE	AT23 (4 weeks) AT	CH5 (12 weeks) CH	UK1 gold (14 weeks)UK	US3 (18 weeks) US	First published: October 1, 1984
	Last Christmas Music from the Edge of Heaven / The Final	DE2 platinum (140 weeks)DE	AT2 (90 weeks) AT	CH3 (89 weeks) CH	UK2 × 2 Platinum + double platinum (digital) (89 weeks)UK	US11 × 2 Double platinum (14 weeks)US	First published: November 30, 1984 in Austria not placed until 1997, in the USA not until 2017
	Everything She Wants Make It Big	DE8 (9 weeks) DE	AT5 (12 weeks) AT	-	-	US1 gold (20 weeks)US	First published: December 27, 1984
1985	I'm Your Man Music from the Edge of Heaven / The Final	DE7 (12 weeks) DE	AT14 (10 weeks) AT	CH7 (9 weeks) CH	UK1 gold (13 weeks)UK	US3 (18 weeks) US	First published: September 14, 1985
1986	The Edge of Heaven Music from the Edge of Heaven / The Final	DE4 (15 weeks) DE	AT11 (12 weeks) AT	CH4 (10 weeks) CH	UK1 silver (12 weeks)UK	US10 (13 weeks) US	First published: June 18, 1986
	Where Did Your Heart Go? Music from the Edge of Heaven / The Final	-	AT23 (4 weeks) AT	-	-	US50 (8 weeks) US	First published: June 18, 1986 B-side of The Edge of Heaven

Video albums

• 1984: Wham! - The Video (US:gold)
• 1985: Wham! 85
• 1986: Wham! - The Final
• 1986: Wham! in China - Foreign Skies (US:gold)
• 1997: The Best of (UK:gold)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 1997: for the album The Best of Wham !: If You Were There  Japan 1993: for the album The Best Remixes  Canada 1985: for the single Everything She Wants 1986: for the single I'm Your Man  Netherlands 1984: for the single Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go 1984: for the album Fantastic 1984: for the single Freedom  Spain 1987: for the album The Final 1998: for the album The Best of Wham !: If You Were There 2 × gold record  France 1988: for the album Make It Big

Platinum record  Belgium 1995: for the album The Final 1998: for the album The Best of Wham !: If You Were There  Denmark 2013: for the streaming Last Christmas 2020: for the single Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go  Finland 1995: for the album Make It Big  France 1995: for the album The Final  Italy 2013: for the single Last Christmas 2019: for the single Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go  Japan 1993: for the album The Final  Canada 1985: for the single Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go 1986: for the album Music from the Edge of Heaven  New Zealand 2019: for the album Last Christmas  Netherlands 1984: for the album Make It Big 1984: for the single Last Christmas 1986: for the album The Final 2000: for the album The Best of Wham !: If You Were There  Spain 2019: for the single Last Christmas

2 × platinum record  Australia 2017: for the single Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go  Japan 1996: for the single Last Christmas 3 × platinum record  Denmark 2019: for the single Last Christmas 4 × platinum record  Australia 2020: for the single Last Christmas 6 × platinum record  Canada 1985: for the album Make It Big

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	gold1	6 × platinum6th	455,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	-	2 × platinum2	100,000	ultratop.be
Denmark (IFPI)	-	-	5 × platinum5	225,000	ifpi.dk
Germany (BVMI)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	1,000,000	musikindustrie.de
Finland (IFPI)	-	-	platinum1	53,465	ifpi.fi
France (SNEP)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	500,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Italy (FIMI)	-	-	2 × platinum2	80,000	fimi.it
Japan (RIAJ)	-	gold1	3 × platinum3	550,000	riaj.or.jp JP2
Canada (MC)	-	2 × gold2	8 × platinum8th	900,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	-	platinum1	30,000	nztop40.co.nz
Netherlands (NVPI)	-	3 × gold3	4 × platinum4th	600,000	nvpi.nl
Spain (Promusicae)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	140,000	Sólo éxitos: año año, 1959–2002 elportaldemusica.es
United States (RIAA)	-	4 × gold4th	10 × platinum10	12,600,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	4 × silver4th	4 × gold4th	14 × platinum14th	8,185,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	4 × silver4th	21 × gold21st	59 × platinum59

Web links

• Wham! at laut.de
• Wham! at 45cat.com (English)
• Wham! in Rate Your Music (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ release date "Shake"
2. ↑ ^{a b c} chart sources:
   • Wham! in the German charts at OfficialCharts.de
   • Wham! in the Austrian hit parade on AustrianCharts.at
   • Wham! in the Swiss charts on Hitparade.ch
   • Wham! in the Official UK Charts (English)
   • Wham! in the US album and singles charts of Billboard Magazine
   • Wham! in the charts on Chartsurfer.de