Category: Wham!

It’s been 30+ years since Wham! made it big, so it’s about time a movie was made about George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s successes as Wham!

According to the Express:

“It will be the story of Wham! from the early days right the way through to their huge success as one of the biggest bands of the 1980s,” said a source.

“It is very early days but the film is in ­production and they are casting at the moment for actors to take the role of George.”

Could this be Simon Napier-Bell’s Wham! movie talked about in 2008? Simon Napier-Bell (along with Jazz Summers) was one of George’s managers during the later Wham! days, having pulled off Wham!’s historic trip to China.  From the Guardian:

“There are several people sniffing around my Wham! film,” he said, “but I’m not sure any of them will come off because they all require Wham! music in them and George controls that. He will have the yes or no on each script presented. George would want control.”

The film, which would concentrate on the band’s heyday from 1983 – 1985, is said to be budgeted at £50m, though it’s unclear whether this would include a fee for music copyright. Michael has yet to comment.

Simon Napier-Bell, the manager of Wham! in the mid 1980s who masterminded the historic Wham! trip to China, later directed “George Michael: Portrait of an Artist” (Amazon Ad) in 2023. It includes interviews with Stevie Wonder, Sanandra Maitreya, Stephen Fry, Kenny Goss, Chris Cameron, Rufus Wainwright, Piers Morgan, and Jo Whiley.

More information is available at the official site for George Michael: Portrait of an Artist.

Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.

Jazz Summers, a former Wham! manager along with Simon Napier Bell, has a new book entitled Big Life.

The Daily Mail has an excerpt of the book, which details how Summers made the “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” video shoot look bigger than it was and how George Michael usually only responded to the name “Yog” when drunk.

Jazz Summers isn’t the first to write about his experience managing Wham!  Simon Napier Bell wrote I’m Coming To Take You To Lunch: A fantastic tale of boys, booze and how Wham! were sold to China in 2006.

To any long-time George Michael fan, the new reports that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley will not reunite as Wham! is not a surprise.

One report said:

Today, a spokesman for George Michael has issued a statement saying that no such reunion is being planned. ‘I wish I could say it was true but these are just rumours. George is touring on his own and he is releasing an album. Yes, this is a denial.’

The Hollywood Reporter is also reporting:

Michael’s longtime manager tells The Hollywood Reporter that the rumor is just that and there is “no truth” to the story.

The Mirror is saying that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley are planning a “one-off pop extravaganza” to mark the 30th anniversary of their first hit, “Wham Rap.”

If you’ve been following George Michael for any length of time, you know that the Wham! reunion story comes around every few years and nothing comes of it.  This story is probably a spinoff from George Michael’s comments yesterday about his new song “White Light” premiering on British radio on June 29, 2012, which is 30 years to the day when “Wham Rap” premiered on the British charts.

Still, the Mirror is saying:

“They probably won’t do a long tour or release new material like Take That but they do want to commemorate the event with a big gig… and an even bigger party afterwards!

“Things are still in the early stages but everybody is getting really excited about it.”

You can read more here.

The French Vogue editors have completed a new version of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” to kick off their magazine’s new web design.

The Guardian lists the release of Wham Rap! as number 28 in its series of the 50 key events in the history of pop music:

Teenager George Michael was inspired by Britain’s early 80s recession to write a song about the upside of being on the dole. Contending that unemployment provided free time to immerse oneself in London’s booming club culture, Wham Rap! was rather subversive. It was also one of the first British pop singles to avail itself of the still new hip-hop style, and if Michael’s rhyming skills were the essence of Englishness, they seemed cool at the time.

Lon sends us A Young Gun no longer: Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley faces up to bald truth of middle age.

There is also another article at Check out Wham! star Ridgeley.

Dylan sends us “In a world of Coleen and Kerry, ‘Andrew Ridgeley’ is no longer a valid unit for measuring failure,” which discusses how the former Wham! star has discovered something that too many modern-day celebs lack: dignity.

Wham!’s former manager Simon Napier-Bell is in talks with movie producers about bringing their story to the big screen but thinks that George Michael will put a stop to it.

“There are several people sniffing round about a Wham! film but I’m not sure any of them will come off because they all require Wham! music in them and George controls that,” said Napier-Bell.

Simon Napier-Bell, the manager of Wham! in the mid 1980s who masterminded the historic Wham! trip to China, went on to direct “George Michael: Portrait of an Artist” (Amazon Ad) in 2023. The documentary includes interviews with Stevie Wonder, Sanandra Maitreya, Stephen Fry, Kenny Goss, Chris Cameron, Rufus Wainwright, Piers Morgan, and Jo Whiley.

More information is available at the official site for George Michael: Portrait of an Artist.

Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.