Wham! followed the parallel path of most of their British pop peers, celebrating colorful, candied hooks and big, effervescent beats at a time most emerging U.K. groups were dedicated to stylish, detached synth pop. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, the childhood friends who comprised Wham!, didn’t ignore fashion — their flashy visuals were tailor-made for MTV — but they shunned the arty and dour portions of new wave, building their persona on American dance music and pop, even dabbling in a bit of rap on their first single ‘Wham! Rap (Enjoy What You Do).’ That single, along with ‘Young Guns (Go for It)’ and ‘Bad Boys,’ broke them into the U.K. Top Ten in 1983, but it was the jubilant ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ that turned them into international superstars. Almost immediately, George Michael stood apart from Andrew Ridgeley: he had the supple, soulful voice showcased on their second number one, ‘Careless Whisper,’ which was occasionally credited to Michael on his own. Wham! sustained their run at the top of the charts through 1985 but in 1986, ‘A Different Corner’ announced Michael’s separation from his longtime friend. By the end of that year, Wham! had split, leaving Michael on the road to superstardom.
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley met as preteens attending Bushey Meads School in Hertfordshire, England. Becoming fast friends, the two played in a ska revival band named the Executive before leaving to form their own group. Inspired by American dance and R&B, the duo decided to call themselves Wham! because they believed it represented their sunny, kinetic chemistry. Signing with Innervision Records, Wham! released their debut single ‘Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)’ in June 1982 but it failed to gain much attention. That wasn’t the case with ‘Young Guns (Go for …