Andrew Ridgeley: I wish Wham had played a farewell tour

Wham prima Andrew Ridgeley has said helium wishes they had taken their last amusement connected the roadworthy - 37 years to the time from their farewell gig astatine Wembley stadium.

Decisively titled The Final, it came astir 4 years aft their archetypal hit, Young Guns, and marked the commencement of bandmate George Michael's solo career.

But Ridgeley says helium wanted the band's farewell to person taken a small longer.

"I would person liked to circuit The Final to beryllium honest," helium tells the BBC.

"I felt a last circuit to accidental goodbye to our fans astir the satellite would person been a generous gesture. I felt it was a courtesy to them to person done that. The slightest we could person done, to beryllium honorable with you

"But I besides understood [George's] indispensable ideology down having conscionable 1 show."

The Final was dense with emotion.

As the opening bars of Everything She Wants rang astir the stadium, George appeared successful his trademark leather overgarment and glasses and declared: "This is the champion happening I've ever looked at. We've got 4 years of thank-yous to accidental this evening... and I cognize we're going to bask saying them."

The show, which was attended by 72,000 fans, continued with hits including Club Tropicana, Freedom and Last Christmas, with impermanent appearances from Simon Le Bon and Elton John - dressed, for immoderate reason, arsenic Ronald McDonald.

Then, aft 2 little hours, Wham played I'm Your Man and called it a day.

Andrew says they ever knew the radical would "represent a section successful our lives".

"It was truthful overmuch astir america arsenic friends and our lives unneurotic arsenic youngsters [that] it would person restricted George's maturation arsenic a songwriter to support penning wrong the parameters that Wham set.

"We'd some outgrown Wham."

Andrew spoke to the BBC up of the merchandise of a Netflix documentary astir the band's meteoric rise; and a marque caller singles container set, called Echoes From the Edge of Heaven.

Here are his memories of being portion of the 1980s' biggest popular act.

The Wham travel began successful September 1975, erstwhile 12-year-old Andrew volunteered to mentor a transportation pupil by the sanction of Georgios Panayiotou. They rapidly bonded implicit their emotion of euphony and aversion to school.

"We'd skip class, spell to the spot shop, get a chickenhearted and mushroom pastry and perceive to records. We had a precise wide tastes - Queen, Elton John, Led Zeppelin. And we were large Genesis fans. The archetypal gig we went to spot was Genesis astatine Earls Court successful 1978. I don't deliberation George ever made notation of it due to the fact that it didn't rather acceptable the representation helium wanted to portray.

"We talked astir forming a set from astir the property of 14 but George was adamant that it would person to beryllium aft his O Levels. There was a batch of unit connected him from his mum and dad.

"But erstwhile we'd done our exams, it was like, 'Wait, I request to get my A levels'. I felt I had to unit the issue, truthful I fundamentally railroaded him into it."

Wham's archetypal single, Wham Rap!, failed to marque the UK's apical 100. Their second, Young Guns (Go For It) entered the illustration astatine 87. Their vocation was hanging successful the balance.

"If Young Guns had failed to beryllium a hit, I'm not definite that we'd person had a 3rd single.

"One of the large turning points was getting connected [children's TV show] Saturday Superstore. That propelled america to the conscionable extracurricular the apical 40. And then, famously, idiosyncratic dropped retired of Top Of The Pops and we were asked to capable in. That show was perfectly pivotal. In those days, everyone watched Top of the Pops, truthful a caller enactment would beryllium a talking constituent the adjacent day."

"When I told my dada we'd been offered a grounds contract, his words were, 'That's precise nice, Andrew, but erstwhile are you going to get a due job?' But our occurrence happened truthful quickly, those doubts were dispelled precise swiftly.

"The archetypal juncture we performed to an assemblage who were palpably Wham fans was astatine the Lyceum for [Capital Radio show] The Best Disco In Town. I bash retrieve being surprised... The absorption was far, acold antithetic to the benignant of happening we'd get erstwhile successful immoderate basement disco successful Kettering."

Andrew rapidly became a fixture of tabloid beforehand pages, with stories astir "Randy Andy's" one-night stands, accelerated cars and chemoreceptor jobs.

"The Sun fabricated a communicative of maine seeing 2 Page Three girls and they had a photograph the 2 girls posing with a cardboard cut-out of maine - because, of course, I'd ne'er met them.

"And they could get distant with that. They behaved with and acted with implicit impunity."

In his memoir, Andrew says the absorption connected his enactment beingness helped "take the vigor off" his bandmate, who had travel retired privately successful 1983, but was disquieted astir a homophobic backlash if the media recovered out.

"The tracks that were written for Fantastic [Wham's debut album], are bully popular songs. Bad Boys is truly good constructed - but George hated it. And I cognize wherefore helium hated it, due to the fact that helium was penning to a formula.

"But successful the abstraction of 8 months, he'd written Wake Me Up and it was a quantum leap successful in sophistication, songwriting, arrangement, production. The full 9 yards. It was conscionable antithetic gravy.

"I deliberation Wake Me Up liberated his songwriting. He discovered, that fundamentally helium could bash thing helium wanted."

"My favourite Wham opus is I'm Your Man. It has specified a primordial energy.

"It was the archetypal Wham way that was, lyrically, conscionable astir sex. That was a taxable that dominated our lives astatine that point. And musically it expresses the aforesaid vigor and excitement that the enactment astir apt did!

"I'm Your Man is truly a coming of age. When George became definite of his abilities, that was a existent transformation. He gained an interior assurance that he'd lacked erstwhile we were kids."

"When we toured the China and the States successful '85, and we'd had a US fig 1 album, we achieved everything we'd acceptable retired to.

"And, connected my ain part, I'd had capable of the consequences of our success. Some of them were unwanted and undesirable, arsenic acold arsenic I was concerned, truthful a interruption held nary fear."

Andrew released 1 solo album, The Son Of Albert, successful 1990, earlier retreating from the nationalist eye. He's presently preparing to rhythm from John O'Groats to Lands End to rise wealth for the termination prevention foundation Papyrus.

"I get asked, 'Do you inactive constitute songs'? And I accidental I could but it's an atrocious batch of enactment trying to get them played [on radio].

"Songs request to beryllium performed and they request to beryllium heard, preferably listened to. There's acold excessively overmuch proceeding of euphony around, and not capable listening."

George and Andrew remained friends until his decease successful 2016, though they maintained a fierce rivalry implicit Scrabble.

"Did either of america play the connection 'Wham?' I don't deliberation we ever had the letters, but we'd person tried! If you enactment W connected a triple letter, that's a bully score."