{"id":257,"date":"2019-01-09T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/2019\/01\/09\/wham\/"},"modified":"2019-01-09T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T12:30:00","slug":"wham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/2019\/01\/09\/wham\/","title":{"rendered":"Wham!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nWham!<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nby Pete Clemons<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

Nowadays, you can\u2019t help but notice the number of 1980s music events that have sprang up. As with the 60s and 70s it is as though those, who were teenagers during the 80s, are suddenly staring to get that second wind. You know the feeling. You have seen your children grow up and now they are beginning to fly the nest. You have more time on your hands and you are now setting about having a few years to yourselves again. And fair play to you all. <\/p>\n

And of all those 80s bands and artists whose names you will see touring on these package tours, for some of you, there will be one glaring omission. Or at least I rarely seem to see them mentioned. And that band is Wham!. And for a while, the music that Wham! created, was totally inescapable. <\/p>\n

Wham!, namely George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, epitomised and embellished the 1980s. Essentially a duo, Wham! was formed during 1981 after the break-up of a Ska band George and Andrew both featured in. <\/p>\n

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley would also perform with backing singers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman. After Dee C. Lee left the band to join, and later marry, Paul Weller of the Style Council, Shirlie was joined by Helen \u2018Pepsi\u2019 DeMacque during 1983. They first appeared together on the video of \u2018Wake me up before you Go-Go\u2019. <\/p>\n

After the split, which was apparently very amicable, both George and Michael went their separate ways, career wise, to varying degrees of success. <\/p>\n

Seeing this new wave of electronic funk on the horizon, on entrepreneur began a new series of promotions at the Stables nightclub, at the Chesford Grange in Kenilworth during 1982. They began on, of all nights, a Monday night and one of their earliest promotions was that of a personal appearance by Wham!, \u2018an exciting new funk group\u2019. They were promoted as follows\u2026\u2026.. <\/p>\n

Wham! are a duo \u2013 vocalist George Michael and guitarist Andy Ridgeley \u2013 who hail from Watford. They specialise in electronic funk, something like ABC, but much better. <\/p>\n

Their aim (apart from being successful) is to become spokesmen for Britain\u2019s youth \u2013 George is just 17 and Andy 18 \u2013 hence their slogan: Youth is precious. Don\u2019t waste it, enjoy it. – (By my calculations the pair would have each been 19 at the time of the gig, but hey \u2013 what do I know about how these things work). <\/p>\n

Since they signed to CBS early this year, they have had one single out \u2013 Wham! Rap \u2013 which was critically acclaimed, but failed to make the charts. <\/p>\n

Now they have a new single \u2018Young Guns (Go For It)\u2019 which they will be promoting at the Stables. <\/p>\n

Soon after this appearance \u2018Young Guns\u2019 reached number three in the UK charts and, then during 1983, Wham! achieved further success with \u2018Bad Boys\u2019 and \u2018Club Tropicana\u2019. <\/p>\n

They went on to achieve further huge smash hits with the above mentioned \u2018Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go\u2019, \u2018Everything She Wants\u2019, \u2018I’m Your Man\u2019, \u2018Last Christmas\u2019, \u2018Careless Whisper\u2019 and \u2018Freedom\u2019. <\/p>\n

Wham!, had developed their style of funk and soul music and went on to become one of the most successful pop acts of the 1980s selling an estimated 30 million records worldwide between 1982 and 1986. <\/p>\n

George Michael was indeed an incredibly special person. Throughout his turbulent and well documented solo career he, seemingly and generously, donated and provided his time to Cancer, HIV, IVF and many other worthy causes. Additionally he gave royalties from the re-releases of the \u2018Last Christmas\u2019 single to Band Aid. And all this was done, apparently, under strict \u2018no publicity\u2019 conditions.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wham! by Pete Clemons Nowadays, you can\u2019t help but notice the number of 1980s music events that have sprang up. As with the 60s and 70s it is as though those, who were teenagers during the 80s, are suddenly staring … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/coventrygigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}