Andrew Ridgeley, one-half of the ’80s pop duo Wham!, looks back on his days in the spotlight with fondness, but also with a tinge of regret. On the 37-year anniversary of the group’s farewell gig at Wembley Stadium, Ridgeley discussed the end with BBC.
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“I would have liked to tour The Final, to be honest,” he told the outlet. “I felt a final tour to say goodbye to our fans around the world would have been a generous gesture. I felt it was a courtesy to them to have done that. The least we could have done, to be honest with you.”
However, he also added that he knew the reason why there was no final tour. “But I also understood [George’s] essential ideology behind having just one show,” he said
Wham!’s last show on June 28, 1986, marked the end of the duo’s five-year career. It was a brief, but significant run that saw them rattle off would-be classics like “Freedom,” “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” and “Last Christmas.” The final gig also cemented the beginning of what would become the late George Michael’s hit-riddled solo career.
Ridgeley told the outlet the end was predestined, saying he and Michael knew the group would “represent a chapter in our lives.” Wham! also represented their friendship, one that had blossomed when they were just kids.
“It was so much about us as friends and our lives together as youngsters [that] it would have restricted George’s growth as a songwriter to keep writing within the parameters that Wham! set,” he explained. “We’d both outgrown Wham!”
Ridgeley’s conversation with the BBC comes just ahead of the release of a Netflix documentary about the band. Tilted WHAM!, the documentary will tell the duo’s journey to the top through never-before-seen archival footage, photos, and unheard interviews from Michael and Ridgeley.
WHAM! will premiere on Netflix on July 5. Check out the trailer below.
(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
