Andrew Ridgeley: That’s what Wham’s second man does! today

Andrew Ridgeley
That’s what Wham’s second man does! today

For the Netflix documentary “Wham!” Andrew Ridgeley (60) dug deep into his private archive and contributed countless photos and video recordings for the project. The 90-minute film tells the story of one of the most successful pop duos in music history, which landed one hit after the other in the years 1981-1986 and is still known to every teenager today.

While George Michael (1963-2016) after the dissolution of Wham! known to have pursued a spectacular solo career that came to an abrupt end with his death in 2016, his partner Ridgeley disappeared from the scene almost immediately.

Guest appearance in the Christmas comedy “Last Christmas”

It wasn’t until 2019 that the Brit made headlines worth mentioning again, on the one hand through his guest appearance in the romantic Christmas comedy “Last Christmas” and also through the publication of his autobiography “Wham! George & Me”. At the latest since the start of the new Netflix documentary, Ridgeley has again received increased media interest – even if in interviews he mainly has to report on the good old days of the eighties alongside his much more famous friend George.

Career flops as a racing driver and actor

In contrast to this, Andrew Ridgeley could no longer remember the musical successes of Wham! connect. After the dissolution of the successful project, he didn’t feel like it at first. He relocated to sunny Monaco and unsuccessfully tried his hand at Formula 3 racing. He then went to America to try his luck as an actor in the film industry in Hollywood.

Musical comeback failed terrifically

Failing with those ambitions, he returned to the UK in 1990 and made an extremely frustrating attempt to re-establish himself in the music industry. After his solo album “Son of Albert” turned out to be a gigantic flop, the record label Columbia Records immediately canceled his contract. In the same year he married the Bananarama singer Keren Woodward (62), with whom he was together until their divorce in 2017 and raised a son together.

Wham! royalties ensured financial independence

Thanks to his royalties from the numerous Wham! hits, Ridgeley had always lived without financial difficulties since the mid-1980s, but this did not stop him from running a bar in the small town of Rickmansworth near London for a few years. Whether there occasionally also the greatest hits of Wham! sounded from the loudspeakers is not known.

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