Andrew Ridgeley

Andrew Ridgeley
Birth name Andrew John Ridgeley
Born (1963-01-26) 26 January 1963
Windlesham, Surrey, England
Genres Pop, rock
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, drums
Years active 1982–1991
Labels Epic, Innervision
Associated acts Wham!, George Michael

Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English retired singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was best known in the 1980s as a member (with George Michael) of the music duo Wham!.

Early life

Andrew John Ridgeley was born in Windlesham, Surrey to Jennifer and Albert Ridgeley. His mother is British and his father is of Italian and Egyptian descent. Ridgeley grew up in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and attended Bushey Meads School. His mother was a schoolteacher at Bushey Heath Primary School and his father worked for Canon.[1] When George Michael was enrolled at the school, Ridgeley volunteered to take him under his wing.[1]

After years of playing in various music groups, Michael and Ridgeley formed Wham!. They then approached various record labels with a homemade tape (which took ten minutes to record in Ridgeley's living room), and signed with Innervision Records. According to I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch, a book written by Wham's manager, Simon Napier-Bell, the band left Innervision after the first album and signed to CBS.

Wham! and after

Main article: Wham!

Wham! went on to enjoy worldwide success from 1982 to 1986, selling more than 25 million records worldwide.[2] Wham! made their U.S. debut appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and went on to become the only British act in the 1980s to secure three No. 1 singles in both the UK and US.[3]

Simon Napier-Bell has admitted that he fabricated a story in 1984, that Ridgeley had been smashed on the nose by somebody in a nightclub, in order to get publicity for Wham! on the front page of British tabloid newspapers. After days of tabloid headlines, it was later revealed that the bandages on Ridgeley's face were because he had plastic surgery on his nose.[4]

Wham! had two UK No. 1 singles in 1984 and were competing that year with pop rivals Duran Duran to be Britain's biggest pop act. Napier-Bell devised a publicity scheme which he believed would turn Wham! into major international stars. In April 1985, he took Wham! to China for a 10-day visit. This gained huge worldwide media attention when Wham! became the first Western pop group to play in China, in front of 15,000 people at the Worker's Gymnasium in Beijing.[5][6]

In 1986, "The Edge of Heaven" became Wham!'s fourth and final UK No. 1 single. With George Michael keen to move into a more adult market, Wham! broke up after a farewell concert entitled "The Final" in front of 72,000 people at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 28 June 1986.[7] Shortly afterwards, Ridgeley moved to Monaco, and tried his hand at Formula Three motor racing. Meeting with little success, Ridgeley moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of a career in acting. He returned to Britain permanently in 1990.

CBS Records (later Sony Music), having taken up the option on Wham!'s contract that specified solo albums from Michael and Ridgeley, released a guitar and drum driven solo recording from Ridgeley, Son of Albert, in 1990. His brother Paul, an occasional percussionist for Bananarama, played drums on the album. Singles included "Shake" and "Red Dress".

"Shake", which was the first single from his solo album, had only moderate success, reaching No. 16 on the Australian charts[8] and No. 58 in the UK charts.[9] "Shake" was the 81st highest-selling single of 1990 in Australia.[10] "Red Dress" only charted in Australia, where it peaked outside the top 100.[8]

Ridgeley's record company, CBS, passed up the option of a second album from him after unsuccessful sales of the album Son of Albert, which was panned by critics and failed to make the top 75 in the UK.[11] Son of Albert was one of the worst received albums of 1990, achieving only half a star in a savage Rolling Stone magazine review.[12] Ridgeley later said: "It was disappointing and depressing to receive quite such a beating over that album."[12]

On 27 January 1991, Ridgeley joined George Michael on stage for a few songs at the encore of his performance at the Rock in Rio event at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.[7] Since 1991, Ridgeley has generally shunned the limelight,[13] but he did agree to give an interview on camera for a 2005 documentary A Different Story, about the life of George Michael.[14] Ridgeley also appeared as a studio guest on the first series of the BBC 2 programme Fantasy Football League in 1994.[15]

Since retiring from active music-making, Ridgeley has remained active in music-writing under various pseudonyms.[16] Since 1982, he has reportedly amassed £10 million from sales and royalties of records.[11] Although the single "Careless Whisper" was issued as a George Michael solo piece, it was credited as being co-written by Ridgeley.[17] It has sold six million copies worldwide[18] and, to date, is the 34th best-selling single of all time in the United Kingdom, having sold over 1.3 million copies.[19] Ridgeley still benefits financially from receiving thousands of pounds per annum from his share of "Careless Whisper" royalties alone.[12]

In 2005, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley made plans to reunite as "Wham!" for "Live 8", but Ridgeley pulled out at the last minute. In 2012, George Michael dismissed rumours that Ridgeley and he were set for a Wham! reunion to mark the 30th anniversary of the group's first record. Michael said that there was no truth in speculation the group would reform for a one-off concert.[13]

Personal life

Ridgeley lives near Wadebridge, Cornwall, United Kingdom, in a restored 15th century farm property with his wife Keren Woodward,[20]a member of the group Bananarama.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year Single Peak positions Album
UK
[9]		 AUS
[8]		 NED
[21]		 US
[23]
1990 "Shake" 58 16 48 77 Son of Albert
"Red Dress" – 110 – —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

References

  1. 1 2 "1963 – Andrew Ridgeley Born". Rttnews.com. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "George Michael – The History". GeorgeMichael.com. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "WHAM!". Official Charts. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  4. ↑ Andrew Hart. Understanding the Media: A Practical Guide. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "How Wham! brought the West to China". BBC News. 24 March 2005. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Great gig, shame about the show trial". The Telegraph. 31 March 2001. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Tours Menu". Tours.yogsbackyard.co.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
  9. 1 2 "Official Charts > Andrew Ridgeley". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  10. ↑ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart 1990 (61–100) (from The ARIA Report No. 50)". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Loser who had the last laugh". Daily Mail. 11 March 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 The complete guide to the music of George Michael & Wham! L Ellis. 1998 – Music Sales Group
  13. 1 2 "Wham! reunion rumours quashed by George Michael". ITV. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  14. ↑ "George Michael steps back into spotlight". BBC News. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "BBC One – Fantasy Football League, Series 1, Episode 6". BBC. 19 February 1994. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "Andrew Ridgeley Net Worth". Celebrity Net Worth. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  17. ↑ "Radio 2 – Sold on Song – TOP 100 – Careless Whisper". BBC. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  18. ↑ "George Michael". Songwriting Magazine. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Best Selling Singles of All Time". everyHit.com. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  20. ↑ "Net celebrity... Keren Woordward". Daily Mail. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  21. 1 2 "dutchcharts.nl > Andrew Ridgeley in Dutch Charts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  22. ↑ "Billboard > Artists / Andrew Ridgeley > Chart History > Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  23. ↑ "Andrew Ridgeley – US Hot 100 Chart". billboard.com. Retrieved 9 April 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.