Jovanovic, R. (2015). George Michael: The biography. Little, Brown Book Group. p.35. ISBN 978-0-349-41124-8 . Retrieved 16 June 2019. Rettenmund, Matthew (15 October 1996). Totally awesome 80s. St. Martin's Press. pp.60–. ISBN 978-0-312-14436-4 . Retrieved 6 May 2011. The feeling that whatever else might have been going on in his life, he could be relied upon to create interesting music never faded: this month there was news that he was planning to make an album with Beyoncé producer Naughty Boy. The double A-side single " Last Christmas/ Everything She Wants" became the highest-selling single ever to peak at No. 2 in the UK charts. It stayed at No. 2 for five weeks and, as of February 2020, was the 10th best-selling single of all time in the United Kingdom, selling over 1.9 million copies in the UK. [25] Wham! donated all their royalties from the single to the Ethiopian famine appeal to coincide with the fund-raising intentions of Band Aid's " Do They Know It's Christmas?", the song which kept them out of the top spot. Nevertheless, Band Aid's success meant that Michael had achieved #1 status in the UK within three separate entities in 1984—as a solo artist, as one half of a duo, and as part of a charity ensemble. [26] Wham Rap!" was the first song written by Michael and Ridgeley following the breakup of their previous band, The Executive, but before they had officially formed (or named) Wham! The genesis of the song began in 1981 and was a result of Ridgeley making up his own words ("Wham! Bam! I am the man!") while dancing to " Rapper's Delight" with Michael and Shirley in Bogart's nightclub in South Harrow. [1] As they continued to work on the song an ultimatum to Michael from his father inspired the line "Get yourself a job or get out of this house". [2]

It says something about the singularity of his talent that scores of artists have tried to follow it, and almost none of them has succeeded in quite the way he did. A remix of the song was made in 1986, combining some of the Unsocial Mix with the album version. This version, entitled "Wham! Rap '86", was released on their American and Japanese album Music from the Edge of Heaven, and as the B-side on the 7-inch single " The Edge of Heaven" in the UK, Australia and Europe. Young Guns’ had been released in September 1982, but with it only landing at number 73 in the charts, the odds of Wham! becoming internationally famous were lengthening by the day," says Andrew Ridgeley. Pictured George Michael and Dee C. Lee. Beaumont, Mark (26 December 2016). "George Michael Obituary: 1963-2016". NME . Retrieved 16 June 2019. Wham! reunion rumours quashed by George Michael". ITV News. 20 June 2012 . Retrieved 29 December 2012.

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Paul Kelbie, Scotland Correspondent (17 August 2012). "How Wham! made Lindsay Anderson see red in China". The Independent . Retrieved 11 December 2015. Steele, Robert Careless Whispers: The Life & Career of George Michael Omnibus Press, 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2016. Offiziellecharts.de – Wham! – Young Guns (Go for It)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 6 March 2016. Because of their Top Of The Pops performance promoting the single, it wasn't long before both George and Andrew joined the rich and famous themselves. Michael later claimed the album was another attempt to quietly reveal the fact that he was gay to his fans without involving the press. When the newspapers finally did get their story two years later, with his arrest for engaging in a lewd act in a Beverly Hills toilet, it seemed to reignite the sense of sly humour that had been largely absent from his work since Wham!’s demise.

The song didn't make Billboard's Top 100 chart, but on November 29th, 1982 it peaked at #3* {for 1 week} on the United Kingdom's Singles chart.. Davis, S. (2012). 80s Chart-Toppers: Every Chart-Topper Tells a Story. Mainstream Publishing. p.264. ISBN 978-1-78057-411-0 . Retrieved 17 June 2019.

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But what looks like an energetic and polished TV appearance was actually a huge turning point for the devastated stars, whose single 'Young Guns' had failed to make any waves in the UK charts. Harris, John (19 September 2008). "Sentenced to a lifetime of stress". theguardian.com . Retrieved 11 January 2017. Tellingly, Michael released the lovelorn Careless Whisper under his name, as if he felt it didn’t fit with the brand he had helped create. More telling still was the release of his second solo single, A Different Corner, shortly before Wham! announced their split.