It looks like we are going to be getting a Christmas gift from Wham!
Wham! will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the song “Last Christmas” and wants to hear “Last Christmas” stories from fans.
Calling All WHAM! Fans
We invite you to help us celebrate the 40th anniversary of Last Christmas! As part of an exciting new project, we want to hear your Last Christmas stories.
Do you have a personal connection to the song? Do you have any videos, photos or stories? Have you ever performed your own version?
This looks like another fun project. A similar call for fans’ help came before the Netflix Wham! documentary.
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About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
On June 1, 2024, Yours Only George is celebrating its 27th anniversary. Shannon and I started this site in 1997 back when AOL gave free space for web sites. We later moved it to a webhost and bought the domain www.yogworld.com.
We had our first fan club in 1986 and came up with the name “Yours Only George” in the early 1990s. The name not only represented fans dedicated to George Michael, but also spelled out “YOG,” George Michael’s nickname. The name “Yog” was originally given to George Michael by Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley.
I am forever thankful to Shannon for her friendship and support. There is no better friend in this world than Shannon. This site would not be here without her.
Over the past five months, I have been going page by page to update the site. Considering that it is two sites in one and it has about 500 pages, there is a lot to work on!
I am posting my Top 5 Favorite things about the site from the last 27 years:
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The George Michael Links section is really the beginning of the entire Yours Only George web site. Back in the mid 1990s, I had gone to a seminar, and the gist was that links were a key to success. It was only later that we became known for the George Michael news. At one point, I think there were at least 400 links. I recently deleted any that were no longer available.
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I remember being shocked when I saw the Yours Only George website listed as a source for a few George Michael biographies. The first one is George Michael: The Biography (Amazon Ad) by Rob Jovanovic. The second one is George Michael: A Life (Amazon Ad) by James Gavin. I was also recently approached to write a George Michael book. Maybe some day I will!
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When George Michael died, one tabloid picked up on the fact that Andrew Ridgeley called George Michael “Yog” in his Twitter post about George Michael dying. The writer wrongly said Andrew’s nickname of Yog stood for “Yours Only George.” The nickname “Yog” derives from the Greek pronunciation of George’s given name: Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. The “G” on “Georgios” is pronounced with a “y” sound like “yogurt.” Unfortunately, this inaccurate information has propagated to other sites.
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Amazon Ad
It was an absolute thrill when we interviewed Shirlie Kemp. I wish I had dated the article. I think it was in February 1998. We interviewed Shirlie when she was running the George Michael fan club during the Aegean record label era. Some day I hope to interview Shirlie again.
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My absolute favorite memory was finding out that George Michael not only knew about the Yours Only George web site, but George Michael also had the Yours Only George web site bookmarked on his computer! This was in 2004. Jill Taylor, a DJ, did an Internet search before her interview with George Michael, and she found the Yours Only George web site. She mentioned the site during the interview. George was very nice, said he knew about the site, and even had it bookmarked on his computer.
I never had the chance to meet George Michael, but knowing George visited the site is the next best thing.
Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.
About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
When George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as Wham! went to China in 1985, director Lindsay Anderson was charged with the documentary for this historic event.
For the first time, Anderson’s documentary of Wham! in China, If You Were There, will be screened for the public on May 25 and May 31, 2024. Unfortunately, tickets have already sold out.
The 79-minute documentary is described as the following:
In 1985, at the height of their success, WHAM! were invited to be the first western pop group to tour Communist China since the Cultural Revolution. Accepting the offer, the duo made an unlikely approach to Anderson, asking him to direct a documentary record of the tour. However, the collaboration ended awkwardly when his cut of the film was rejected by the band. The film was subsequently re-edited to incorporate more concert footage and released as WHAM! In China: Foreign Skies. Anderson’s cut, titled If You Were There… has never before been screened publicly, making this a not-to-be-missed, potentially once-only opportunity to see it.
Thanks to Andrew Ridgeley, and to Chris Organ and David Austin of George Michael Entertainment for their co-operation in connection with this screening.
According to The Guardian:
The exact sequence of events leading to Anderson’s dismissal are not easy to discern from his papers. Napier-Bell wrote that the first cut of the film was “achingly boring” and that Michael thought a second version appeared to be “scornful” of Wham!.
“It should have been possible for Lindsay – or any director with an ounce of compromise in him – to have adjusted it to what Wham! needed as a promo tool,” says Napier-Bell today. “But he obviously felt it beneath him to compromise with two upstart kids. He was always a difficult old bugger, full of guilt at his own public school education, but suffering from the superiority it had given him.”
Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.
About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
Wham!’s Fantastic (sponsored link) and Make It Big (sponsored link) are being rereleased on vinyl today.
Check out our previous post with all the information on these vinyl rereleases.
The Official Wham! Facebook page is celebrating with the following videos:
Will you be buying Fantastic or Make It Big on vinyl? Let us know in the comments!
Make sure to follow Yours Only George on Facebook and X, and join our mailing list for the latest news on George Michael.
About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
The Wham! documentary lost to “20 Days in Mariupol” at the BAFTA awards.
Simon Halfon had the following to say about the loss:
The @BAFTA awards were a lot of fun last night ! WHAM! we are reliably informed came somewhere between 2nd and 5th in the #documentary category. I’m not sure, but I think that means we qualify for a Europe next year…special thanks to @NetflixUK for throwing the best party! pic.twitter.com/vE9Cm11pwJ
You can see the entire list of winners for the BAFTA awards here.
Do you think Wham! should have won best documentary? Let us know in the comments.
About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
Netflix has added a new video on YouTube with an inside look of the Wham! documentary.
Producers John Battsek and Simon Halfon provide some background information on the making of the documentary WHAM! with Andrew Ridgeley.
You couldn’t have a better best friend than Andrew Ridgeley. He not only encouraged George Michael to start a band, but he also stepped back to let George shine.
The Wham! documentary has been nominated as best documentary at the BAFTA awards which will be on Sunday, February 18, 2024.
About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
Will you be watching on Sunday, February 18, to find out if Wham! won best documentary? Let us know in the comments!
About Melanie
Melanie is the co-founder of Yours Only George and has been the webmaster of the site since 1997. Melanie has been a George Michael and Wham! fan since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1984.
