It’s 40 years since “Wham!” released their Christmas single “Last Christmas”.
At about the same time Bob Geldof (now “Sir” Bob) set up the first charity single in aid of the starving in Africa, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, which featured most of the top pop and rock stars of the time. The group name was "Band Aid".
What happened next?
Which single got to Number One in the official UK Charts?
The favourite was “Wham!’s” George Michael masterpiece. Fellow member of the duo Andrew Ridgely had nothing to do with the song. “Yog”, as the Greek-born Londoner was known, wrote it, sang it and played all of the instruments. “Last Christmas” was a nailed-on Christmas No. 1!
Then what happened? Apparently, Michael flew straight from Switzerland where they had been filming the video to accompany their song, to the studios in London where the stars assembled by Geldof were about to record “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
You guessed it. The Christmas No. 1 in 1984 was the charity single, by the group cleverly named "Band Aid".
Wham!’s” effort languished for weeks at number 2 and never made number 1. Had George Michael been complicit in his own “downfall”?
After "Wham!"
Apparently he didn’t care. In a BBC documentary about Wham! he comes across as a really nice guy. Everybody loved him. He had lots of really close mates.
When he came out as gay, it didn’t affect his popularity. Even when he was arrested for committing a lewd act with another man in a public toilet, his popularity didn’t diminish.
That he died so young was a tragedy, but his legacy lives on.
I found his acoustic rendering of The Police hit "Roxanne" astonishing. Indeed, his solo album "Songs From the Last Century" is remarkable.
RIP – George Michael
Born in London of Greek parents his real name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. He sold more than 100 million albums during a career lasting almost four decades.
He died on Christmas Day 2016, aged 53, of a heart condition.
Endword
“Last Christmas”, arguably one of the best Christmas songs ever, finally reached number 1 in 2023!
© The Culture Vulture
Acknowledgements:
Billboard
BBC Mundo
El Mundo
EFE
Facebook
New York Times
Wikipedia
Links:
George Michael - Roxanne (Audio) - YouTube
George Michael - Songs From The Last Century (Full Album Remastered)
Tags:
Andrew Ridgely, "Band Aid", Bob Geldof, BBC documentary about Wham!, BBC Mundo, Christmas No. 1, Culture Vulture, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, EFE, George Michael, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, “Last Christmas”, lewd act with another man, "Roxanne", "Songs from the Last Century", The Police, Wikipedia, “Yog”