Name	Wham!
Background	group_or_band
Alias	Wham! UK
Origin	Bushey, England
Genre	Post-discoNew WaveSynthpop
Years active	1981–1986
Label	Innervision RecordsColumbia Records
Associated acts	The Executive!, Pepsi and Shirlie
Past members	George MichaelAndrew Ridgeley

Wham! were a British duo formed in 1981 by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK because of a naming conflict with another existing U.S. band.

Wham! sold 25 million certified albums from 1982 to 1986.

History

Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads Comprehensive School in Bushey near the suburb of Watford in Hertfordshire, England, UK. At first they performed in a short-lived ska band called The Executive, alongside two of their former school friends David (Austin) Mortimer and Andrew Leaver. When this group split, Michael and Ridgeley eventually formed Wham!, signing with Innervision Records, a contract they later sued to be released from. Once that situation was resolved, they signed with CBS (Columbia Records in the United States and Canada, and Epic Records for the rest of the world).

Michael took on the majority of roles and responsibilities within the band—composer, producer, singer, and occasional instrumentalist—but the contribution of Ridgeley as the group's image specialist and spokesman was crucial to the band's initial success.[1] Ridgeley convinced a reluctant George Michael that Wham! needed to change their image and their sound frequently, from the leather-clad moody singers of "Bad Boys" and "Young Guns (Go For It!)" to the more fashionable pop superstars of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."

Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group [2].

The début record to be released by the band was "Wham Rap!" in June 1981. It was one of the first singles by a British group to include rapping, and was a double A-side including the Social Mix and the Anti-Social Mix. The record was not playlisted by BBC Radio 1 in the UK, partly because of the profanity in the Anti-Social Mix. Separate videos were recorded for each set of lyrics. "Wham! Rap" did not chart for the group, but in October 1982 "Young Guns (Go For It!)" was issued. An appeal from one youthful lad to his friend to not throw his life away so early on marriage, it also stalled outside the UK Top 40. But soon, Wham! got lucky when the BBC programme "Top of the Pops" scheduled them. An important weekly BBC chart show on television, it had to look outside the Top 40 to fill a gap created by an act which had unexpectedly pulled out of the show. Nearest to the 40 mark and still climbing, Wham! was summoned, and a phenomenon immediately began. The "Top of the Pops" performance of "Young Guns" is still considered a watershed moment in the group's history—critical acclaim is given for the 'nightclub' feel of the dance routine by all four of the performers.

Increasing success

Wham!'s first manager was Bryan Morrison. The effect of Wham! on the public, especially teenage girls, was felt from the moment they finished their début performance of "Young Guns (Go For It!)" on Top of the Pops. Michael wore espadrilles, an open suede jacket, and rolled-up denim jeans. Ridgeley stood behind him, flanked by backing dancers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman.

The performance was as much one of acting as it was of singing, with Michael playing the part of the pleading good-time lad, and Ridgeley the guy who had been drawn into commitment. Afterwards, the song shot into the Top 40 at #24 and peaked at #3 in December. The following year (1983), Dee C. Lee began her work with Paul Weller of The Style Council, and was replaced by Pepsi Demacque. Holliman and Demacque would later record as Pepsi & Shirlie.

Wham! followed up "Young Guns (Go For It!)" with the reissue "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", a song about the joys of a leisurely life on the dole; ""Bad Boys", " about a strained relationship between a rebellious teenage lad and his worried parents; and "Club Tropicana," a satire of the media's fascination with the elitist London club scene [3]. Each single was accompanied by a memorable music video.

By the end of 1983, Wham! was rivaling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain's biggest pop act. Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing shuttlecocks down their shorts during performances on their first tour, "The Club Fantastic Tour." Their début LP Fantastic reached #1 at this time as well.

It wasn't long after this that Ridgeley became conscious of legal problems with their initial contract at Innervision. While the legal battle raged (perhaps to raise much-needed funds for the fight), Innervision released a medley of non-single album tracks from Fantastic, entitled Club Fantastic Megamix. Wham! publicly denounced the move, and urged fans not to buy it. After all the legal wrangling, Innervision admitted there were royalty discrepancies with Wham!'s contract, the fall-out of which led to the bankruptcy and eventual dissolution of Innervision altogether.

Driven by Ridgeley, the duo changed their image, and Wham! returned in May 1984 with an updated, cutting-edge pop image quickly copied by other pop bands. In a process begun by the video to "Club Tropicana" on the previous album, Ridgeley changed the band's look from "moody in leather jackets" to smiles and fashionable clothing, with a view to promoting themselves more as hedonistic sex symbols than spokespeople for a disaffected generation, as previously done.

Fittingly enough, these changes propelled the next single (a pop standard) to the top of the charts around the world. "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," an infectiously catchy song Michael wrote whose inspiration was a note left by Ridgeley to his parents.[4] The note was mistakenly written by Ridgeley as "don't forget to wake me up up before you go go." Since he had accidentally written the word "up" twice, Ridgeley decided to compound the error and write "go" twice, as well. It became their first UK #1 and rose to that position in the USA as well, accompanied by a memorable video of the duo, plus the ubiquitous Pepsi and Shirlie, wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirts with the slogans "CHOOSE LIFE" and "GO GO."

The next single "Careless Whisper" was issued as a George Michael solo piece, yet unlike any Wham! single since "Wham Rap!," it was credited as co-written by Ridgeley. The song, about a remorseful two-timer, had more emotional depth than previous releases, and quickly reached #1, marking a new phase as George Michael tried to somewhat distance himself from Wham!'s playboy image. In the U.S.—so as not to confuse American listeners just being exposed to Wham!—the single was billed as Wham! featuring George Michael. In the autumn of 1984, Wham! returned as a duo with "Freedom," another UK chart-topper with George Michael presented as a broken-hearted romantic, and the first single for quite some time to reach #1 in the UK without an accompanying video. It has been said that this was because the first video was canned due to its poor quality; a video was subsequently edited together from footage of Wham!'s historic China tour in time for "Freedom's" U.S. single release.[5] They had achieved three number-one singles in a row. In November, they released their second album, Make It Big, which quickly climbed to #1 on the album charts, and the band set off on an arena tour at the end of 1984. At this time, Ridgeley told Smash Hits magazine that he had just written a song called "Stephen," composed for a friend who was struggling to cope with bereavement.

Michael contributed vocals to the Band Aid project "Do They Know It's Christmas?," a song which usurped their own Holiday release "Last Christmas" b/w "Everything She Wants," the former featuring a video set in and around a remote Swiss châlet.

"Last Christmas" became the highest-selling single ever to peak at #2 in the UK charts. As such, Wham! donated all their royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal to coincide with the fund-raising intentions of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?," the song which kept them out of the top spot. Nevertheless, Band Aid's success meant that Michael had achieved #1 status within three separate entities in 1984—as a solo artist, as one half of a duo, and as part of a charity ensemble.

Several months after their UK releases, their three U.S. number-one singles in a row (and their only number ones) were "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (closely coinciding with Make It Big's release), "Careless Whisper," and "Everything She Wants." "Freedom" hit number three. At the end of 1985, the U.S. Billboard charts listed "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" as the number-three song and "Careless Whisper" as the number-one song of the year.

China and Live Aid

In April 1985, Wham! took a break from recording to embark on an interminable world tour, including a ground-breaking 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group[6]. The China excursion was a masterful publicity scheme devised by Simon Napier-Bell (one of their two managers—Jazz Summers being the other). It culminated in a concert at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing in front of 10,000 people. Director Lindsay Anderson documented the tour in his film Foreign Skies.

Sporting a beard, Michael appeared with Ridgeley onstage at Live Aid (although they did not perform as Wham!). Michael sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with Elton John while Ridgeley joined Kiki Dee in the row of backup singers. In September, Wham! released "I'm Your Man" which went to #1 in the UK charts.

Michael claimed to have begun a relationship with model/makeup artist Kathy Yeung around this time, and Ridgeley began one with Keren Woodward of Bananarama. Ridgeley also took up the hobby of rally driving, famously crashing one car before the end of 1985. "Last Christmas" was re-issued for the festive season and again made the UK Top 10, peaking at #6, while Michael took up offers he was starting to receive to add his voice to other artists' songs. He performed backing vocals for David Cassidy and for Elton John on his successful singles "Nikita" (a UK #3) and "Wrap Her Up," (a UK #12) on which he sang co-lead.

Demise

Michael desired to create music targeted to a more sophisticated audience than the duo's primarily teenage fan-base. Therefore, Michael and Ridgeley officially announced the breakup of Wham! in the spring of 1986, but that a farewell single and album would be forthcoming, along with a historic grand finale concert at Wembley Stadium on 28 June 1986, called The Final. British pop group Five Star declined George's invitation to be the supporting act, saying they needed to concentrate on their own career at the time.

The farewell single was "The Edge of Heaven," which reached #1 in June, 1986. "Where Did Your Heart Go?" was the group's final single in the United States. The song, originally recorded by art-rock ensemble Was (Not Was), was a gloomy and sombre affair that telegraphed the intentions of George Michael for the next decade's work, and would fit musically on any of his solo albums. The duo's last album was a double-LP collection of all the singles to date, including some extended versions, and was also called "The Final" (released in North America as the severely pared-down Music from the Edge of Heaven with alternate tracks). Wham! then bade goodbye to their fans (73,000 of whom attended the eight-hour event) and each other with an emotional embrace at the end of the show. The band had been together five years, selling close to 20 million albums and 10 to 15 million singles. Foreign Skies, the documentary of their tour of China, received its world premiere as part of the festivities, making it the most highly-attended film première in history.

Post-Wham!

For several years after becoming a solo artist, George Michael spoke in public negatively about his time in Wham!, partly because of the intense negativity of media coverage on partner Ridgeley. Michael complained of the constant pressure he felt, and he claimed that the duo had been mistreated financially. He also spoke disparagingly about the Wham! repertoire, especially the songs from the first album.

However, his perspective on the era has softened somewhat in recent years. He still performs "I'm Your Man" and "Everything She Wants," one of the more critically acclaimed songs from the Wham! era, at his solo concerts. He & Ridgely have a few reunions.

Ridgeley moved to Monaco after Wham!'s break-up and tried his hand at Formula Three motor racing. Meeting with little success, Ridgeley moved to Los Angeles to pursue his singing/acting career, the failure of which caused him to return to England in 1990. Regardless, CBS Records, having taken up the option on Wham!'s contract that specified solo albums from Michael and Ridgeley, released a guitar-and-drum-driven solo effort from Ridgeley, Son of Albert, in 1990. His brother Paul—a frequent percussionist for Bananarama—played drums on the album. Singles included "Shake" and "Red Dress." CBS declined the option of a second album.

In Anthony Horowitz's book Eagle Strike, the main villain, singer Damian Cray is the founding member of a band called "Slam!," a parody of Wham!

The 2007 film Music and Lyrics features Hugh Grant as a Ridgeley-like former member of an 80s music group called PoP!.

On 21 November 2009, there was a Wham!-themed night on television's The X Factor. George later appeared on the show's final episode, performing a duet of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with finalist and eventual winner Joe McElderry.

Discography

References

External links

Official website of George Michael

Wham! at Rolling Stone

Category:1980s music groups Category:English pop music groups Category:George Michael Category:Musical duos Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Musical groups from London Category:Musical groups established in 1981 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1986 Category:People from Bushey

Name	George Michael
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou
Born	June 25, 1963East Finchley, North London, England
Instrument	Vocals, multiple instruments
Genre	Pop rock, Soft rock, New Wave, Blue-eyed soul
Voice type	Tenor, baritone
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, producer
Years active	1980–present
Label	Columbia, Sony
Associated acts	Wham!, Band Aid, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Mutya Buena, Whitney Houston
Influences	Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin, Paul Young, The Temptations, Queen, Marvin Gaye
Domesticpartner	Anselmo Feleppa (1991–1993) Kenny Goss (1996–present)
Url
Notable instruments	PianoJohn Lennon model "Z" Steinway singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! along with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley. His first solo single, "Careless Whisper" was released when he was still in the duo and sold about six million copies worldwide.
Title	Grammy Award for Album of the Year
Years	1989for Faith
Before	U2for The Joshua Tree
After	Bonnie Raittfor Nick of Time

Category:1963 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:English criminals Category:English dance musicians Category:English-language singers Category:English multi-instrumentalists Category:English people of Cypriot descent Category:English pop singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English tenors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom Category:LGBT people from England Category:Living people Category:Musicians from London Category:People from Bushey Category:People from Finchley Category:Pop singer-songwriters Category:People convicted of drug offenses Category:Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales Category:Wham! members

Name	Dan Deacon
Background	solo_singer
Born	August 28, 1981West Babylon, New York,
Origin	Baltimore, Maryland,
Instrument	Effects pedals, wave function generators, keyboards, trombone, tuba, voice, computer
Genre	Electronic, electropop
Years active	2003–present
Label	Carpark Records, Mistletone, Wildfire Wildfire, Psych-o-path, Standard Oil Records, Comfort Stand
Url	http://www.dandeacon.com
Time traveler	No

Dan Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American electronic musician who originates from Babylon, New York and Baltimore, Maryland.

Life and music history

Dan was born and raised in suburban Long Island, New York. Dan graduated from Babylon High School in 1999. Dan attended the Conservatory of Music at State University of New York at Purchase in Purchase, New York, where, in addition to performing his solo material, he played in many bands, including tuba for Langhorne Slim and guitar in the improvisational grindcore band Rated R, and had a small ensemble. He completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition. He studied under composer/conductor Joel Thome and Dary John Mizelle.

In 2004 he moved to Baltimore, Maryland and moved into the Copycat Building and, along with friends from SUNY Purchase, formed Wham City, an arts and music collective.

His first two albums as a solo artist, Meetle Mice and Silly Hat vs Egale Hat were released on CD-R on the Standard Oil Records label in 2003 while he was a student at Purchase. The albums are both collections of computer music and live recordings of ensemble pieces. They are markedly different from his first popular record, 2007's Spiderman of the Rings, in that they contain almost no tracks where Deacon sings or uses vocal manipulation. Most of the pieces are instrumentals or sound collages.

Following those two albums came another set of records that were pieces of sine waves. "Green Cobra is Awesome Vs The Sun" is a 42-minute piece of six sine waves that slowly drift. "Goose On The Loose" is a 60-minute piece of Wavetek 180 signal generator being processed through a Digitech Whammy Pedal and a Line 6 Loop/Delay pedal.

His next two releases were the EPs Twacky Cats on Comfort Stand Recordings and Acorn Master on Psych-o-path Records. These were the first releases that contained material with which most of his current listeners would associate him.

Spiderman of the Rings was Deacon's first commercially distributed full-length album, released by Carpark Records in May 2007. The album was well received by the press and was included in the Best New Music section of Pitchforkmedia.com. The album was also ranked as number 24 on the website's "Top 50 Albums of 2007".

Ultimate Reality was released as a DVD in November 2007. It was a return for Deacon to composing music for others to perform. The pieces for percussion and electronics were performed by Jeremy Hyman of Ponytail and Kevin Omeara of Videohippos. The pieces were set to collaged and heavily altered video created by Deacon's long time friend and collaborator Jimmy Joe Roche.

Deacon has performed at several leading art centers including Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Getty Center in Los Angeles, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC.

Originally to be released in the fall of 2008, Deacon's new album entitled Bromst was released on March 24, 2009. It was produced by Chester Gwazda at Snow Ghost Studios in Whitefish, Montana and features live instruments including player piano and a variety of percussion instruments. It was also very well received. Pitchfork gave it an 8.5/10, and it made it to the "best new music" section. Bromst also ranked #46 in Pitchfork's Best Albums of 2009.

Live shows

Dan Deacon is famed for his live shows. When playing solo he performs on floor level within the audience, his musical devices being set up on a low table, and surrounded by the crowd.

In stark contrast to Deacon's electronic performances, the Bromst tour was with a 14-person ensemble of members of various Baltimore bands including So Percussion, Future Islands, and Chester Gwazda. He was accompanied by various acts including Nuclear Power Pants. This tour is also notable for the musicians' use of a veggie oil powered bus.

In the summer of 2009, Dan Deacon went on tour with two other notable acts, Deerhunter and No Age, on the "No Deachunter" tour.

In the fall of 2009, Dan Deacon was forced to cancel the small remainder of his North American tour, which included shows at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY and Connecticut College in New London, CT due to health complications involving a battle with acute sciatica, all of which were rescheduled in winter of 2010.

Viral video

Deacon recorded the track "Drinking out of Cups". In 2006, Liam Lynch created a video to accompany the piece. The compilation has been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube. As the video spread, rumors of what the video was and how it was made quickly began forming. One popular rumor is that it is a recording of someone on LSD locked in a closet. Deacon has stated numerous times that this is "not true, in fact I've never done acid."

Discography

A Green Cobra Is Awesome vs. the Sun (single EP) (2003)

Goose on the Loose (2003)

Silly Hat vs. Egale Hat (2003)

Meetle Mice (2003)

Live Recordings 2003 (2004)

Twacky Cats (2004)

Porky Pig (Standard Oil Records New Music Series) (2004)

Acorn Master (2006)

Spiderman of the Rings (2007)

The Crystal Cat (single) (2007)

Ultimate Reality (soundtrack) (2008)

Bromst (2009)

Media appearances

July 23, 2003: performed on WFMU

February 21, 2004: performed again on WFMU

February 2005: performed "Ohio" on WSAV, Savannah, GA's local NBC affiliate

February 13, 2006: featured on Liam Lynch's Podcast Lynchland. Portions of Deacon's song "Big Big Big Big Big" are also used for Lynchland's opening and closing credits on each episode.

May 26, 2006: performed again on WFMU

October 25, 2007: featured on Public Radio International's The Sound of Young America.

April 5, 2009: featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

May 29, 2009: featured on American Public Media's Sound Opinions.

December 4, 2009: named artist of the year by The Athens Blur Magazine in Athens, Georgia

Charts

August 1, 2006: Acorn Master hits #162 on the CMJ Radio 200 charts.

March 24, 2009: Bromst hits #199 on the Billboard Top 200 charts.

Awards

Silly Hat vs. Egale Hat #18 in Top 30 most played albums on WFMU in November 2003

Meetle Mice Third Best Album of 2003 on Top Ten Albums by OCDJ

Best Solo Performer 2005 Baltimore City Paper Critics Poll

Best Solo Performer 2006 Baltimore City Paper Readers Poll

Acorn Master #1 in Top 30 played albums on WFMU in July 2006

Spiderman of the Rings named Best New Music on Pitchfork Media in May 2007 with a 8.7 rating

Bromst named Best New Music on Pitchfork Media in March 2009 with a 8.5 rating

Awarded "Best Awesome" by COOL! Magazine

Spiderman of the Rings named one of the best records of 2007 by CMJ New Music Monthly

Crystal Cat Single listed in top 100 singles of 2007 by Rolling Stone Magazine

Spiderman of the Rings named one of the 25 best records of 2007 by Pitchfork Media

Festival Appearances

SXSW 2007, Austin, TX

NXNW 2007, Portland, OR

CMJ 2007, New York, NY

Virgin Festival, Baltimore, MD

Pitchfork Music Festival 2007, Chicago, IL

Laneway Festival 2008, Australia

Coachella 2008, Indio, CA

Future Days Festival 2008, Dublin, Ireland

Dot to Dot 2008, UK

Electric Picnic 2008, Ireland

Sled Island Music Festival 2008, Calgary, AB Canada

Bumbershoot 2008, Seattle, WA

TIM Festival 2008, Brazil

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008, Austin, TX

Langerado Festival 2008, Big Cypress, FL

Fuck Yeah Fest 2008, Los Angeles, CA

Golden Plains Festival 2009, Australia

Transmodern Festival 2009, Baltimore, MD

Primavera Sound, 2009, Barcelona, Spain

Lollapalooza 2009, Chicago, IL

Villette Sonique 2009, Paris, France

Big Ears Music Festival, Knoxville, TN

Treasure Island 2009, San Francisco, CA

Campus A Low Hum, Bulls, New Zealand

Transmediale 2010, Berlin, Germany

MtyMx 2010, Monterrey, Mexico

Sperm Festival, Prague, Czech Republic

Donau Festival 2010, Krems, Austria

Bonnaroo 2010, Manchester, TN

Whartspace 2005-2010, Baltimore, MD

Haldern Festival 2010, Germany

Incubate 2010, The Netherlands

High Zero 2010, Balitmore, MD

Moogfest 2010, Asheville, NC

Iceland Airwaves 2010, Iceland

Museum and Art Institution Performances

National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest Romanian, April 2010

Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD USA, July 2009

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA USA, June 2009

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH USA, June 2009

Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Detroit, USA, May 2009

Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, TX USA, April 2009

The Hirshorn Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC USA, November 2008

Detroit Museum of Modern Art, Detroit, MI USA, October 2008

The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA USA, July 2008

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY USA, February 2008

Model Arts Centre and Niland Gallery, Sligo, Ireland, December 2007

Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC USA, November 2007

The Walters Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD USA, February 2007

References

External links

Wham City video profile

Dan Deacon interview for the New York Times

Dan Deacon's electronic jungle — A June 2007 Associated Press interactive piece with Dan Deacon explaining his instruments.

Dan Deacon article April 2009

Pitchfork article

Music Towers article

Muso's Guide live review - Fabric London

Photo gallery of live performance

Channel 59 official band website

Category:American electronic musicians Category:State University of New York at Purchase alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:1981 births