Did you know there’s a heartbreaking reason behind George Michael and Wham!’s decision to create arguably the greatest festive song of them all, ‘Last Christmas’?
Between June 1982 and 1986, the late George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s vibrant pop project Wham! ruled the airwaves.
During their short but sweet reign, the pair - alongside Helen ‘Pepsi’ DeMacque-Crockett and Shirlie Kemp - put out three studio albums and 14 singles before bringing the curtain down for good at Wembley Stadium.
Following the demise of the band, Michael - whose real name was Georgios ‘Yog’ Kyriacos Panayiotou - embarked on a fruitful solo career up until his sudden and tragic death in 2016.
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Meanwhile, Ridgeley, 61, has continued to pour time into charity work and is a former Formula Three motor racing driver.
Two years before Wham!’s breakup, the group decided to record their first - and subsequent last - Christmas single, ‘Last Christmas’.
The synth-pop song, which has stood the test of time, was solely written and produced by Michael and was released via CBS Records on December 3 1984.
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Why did George Michael and Wham! decide to release ‘Last Christmas’?
According to a new BBC Two documentary titled Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped, the ‘Freedom’ singer considered the festive period the most wonderful time of the year. But in a tragic turn of events, he would die of heart disease at the age of 53 on Christmas Day.
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Speaking from the Swiss resort of Saas-Fee, were the ‘Last Christmas’ music video was filmed, Shirlie said of Michael: “Christmas was bigger than him, so he could disguise himself in Christmas.
“That was one of the reasons he loved that time of year, and why he liked to go carol singing. Imagine if everyone had iPhones back then. Our Christmas Eves were the best.”
Pepsi added that the two-time Grammy Award winner had a penchant for dressing up over the holidays, recalling one particular festive adventure.
“He lived in a little mews house on Kensington High Street and he went, ‘Right, let’s go!’. He had all the wigs and everything,” she said. “We sang in front of a house and then we’d end up in a pub spending the money that we had collected. Then it was like, ‘OK, let’s go over there’, and it was like, ‘No, it’s too far to walk’.
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“So we got on a bus with the wigs and everything, and then we’d end up in another pub, causing havoc.”
The long-lasting legacy of ‘Last Christmas’
The TV documentary also reveals how one of Michael’s lifelong goals was to make a Christmas number-one hit.
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Unfortunately, ‘Last Christmas’ failed to peak higher than second place during his lifetime.
The track lost out at the time of its release to Bob Geldof’s star-studded Band Aid charity single, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’.
Of course, Michael’s vocals do feature on the 1984 track—so arguably he did fulfil his dream after all!
Seven years after Michael’s death in 2016, ‘Last Christmas’ finally reached the coveted Christmas Number 1 for the first time in 39 years.
What did Andrew Ridgely say about ‘Last Christmas’ finally becoming number one in the UK?
Following the ‘Last Christmas’ chart triumph, Ridgely sat down with the Official Charts to discuss how pleased Michael would be with the placement.
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“Yes, nigh on 39 years, Last Christmas has finally ascended to the much-cherished and sought-after Official Christmas Number 1 spot, which was always the main goal,” he said.
“George would be beside himself, after all of these years, finally obtain Christmas Number 1. It’s mission accomplished!
“Yog [George] said that he wrote Last Christmas with the intention of writing a Christmas Number 1. That was the challenge; the goal that he set for himself.”
British public crowns ‘Last Christmas’ as their third-favourite Christmas song
In 2020, Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ was also crowned as Britain’s third favourite Yuletide song, according to a 2020 poll.
YouGov discovered that seven percent of UK dwellers loved the melancholy anthem best, with 13 percent of those aged 18-24 selecting it as their best pick.
The track was beaten to the top spot by Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas is You’ and ‘Fairytale of New York’, first performed by The Pogues and the late Kristy MacColl in 1988.
Alexa: stick on some ‘Last Christmas’ to honour George Michael’s life and legacy, will you?
Topics: Christmas, Music, Documentaries, UK News, Celebrity
Ella Scott