Celebrating 40 years of WHAM! Britain’s best loved and most popular duo, this is what the fans have been waiting for… ‘WHAM! The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven’.
This multi format release includes a special edition 7” vinyl singles carry case containing all the hits, which spanned four dazzlingly successful years, kicking off with 1982’s ‘Young Guns (Go For It)’ and culminating in 1986’s ‘The Edge Of Heaven’. Along the way, there was some of the most uplifting music of any era: ‘WHAM! RAP! (Enjoy What You Do)’, ‘Bad Boys’, ‘Club Tropicana’, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Last Christmas’, ‘Everything She Wants’ and ‘I’m Your Man!’
Additionally, this week has seen the debut of WHAM! on TikTok, with the posts so far being clips from WHAM!’s glory days, interspersed with cosy chats from Andrew. You can follow WHAM! on TikTok here.
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley formed WHAM! in 1981.The lifelong friends who met at secondary school in the small town of Bushey became one of the most globally successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more than thirty million records worldwide. Several pop generations down the line, this treasure trove of musical gems continues to inspire legions of new fans!
George and Andrew released eleven singles as WHAM!, incredibly, five of them (‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Last Christmas’, ‘I’m Your Man’ and ‘The Edge Of Heaven’) were British Number 1s. Meanwhile, in the United States, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, ‘Careless Whisper’ and ‘Everything She Wants’ were chart toppers: remarkably, all three were from the same album, ‘Make It Big’, which sold six million copies in America alone. Elsewhere, the boys topped the charts in a host of countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Holland, Italy, Ireland, South Africa and Switzerland!
In 1985, WHAM! became the first western group to perform in China, where two rapturously received concerts broke countless cultural barriers!
WHAM! toured the world. The Big Tour of 1984 and ‘85, comprised thirty-nine shows in support of the multi-platinum British and American Number One album – Make It Big. It took in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Australia, United States, Hong Kong and China and in the summer of 1985, their WHAMAMERICA! stadium tour played to hundreds of thousands of WHAM! fans the length and breadth of the USA.
On June 28, 1986, WHAM! The Final saw the duo depart in a blaze of glory in front of seventy-two thousand people at Wembley Stadium. The concert included performances by their friend Elton John!
Best of all, George and Andrew’s friendship was as strong at the end as it was in the beginning. WHAM! never got old and they never lost their exclamation mark!
WHAM! The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven will be released as a deluxe vinyl singles 7” box set. The stylish collection includes all the singles, plus additional content.
Available to pre order now and released on July 7, ‘WHAM! The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven’ is also available in multiple additional formats: 10CD box set, 2LP coloured vinyl, 2LP black vinyl, CD and digital.
You can pre-order ‘WHAM! The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven‘ here.
If that wasn’t enough, ‘WHAM!’ The Documentary is coming to Netflix on July 5th.
Now for the very first time, told in their own words, the amazing story of how in four years George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley dominated the charts around the world with timeless and classic pop songs.
Hit after hit – Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Freedom, I’m Your Man and of course Last Christmas.
Their time in the spotlight was white-hot, becoming the very first western pop act to play in China.
It was a time that both encapsulated and epitomised not just their youth, but also those of the many millions of fans that adored them.
‘WHAM!’ is a feature length documentary that captures this magical time, from director Chris Smith (Fyre Fest, Sr) and producers John Battsek (The Deepest Breath) and Simon Halfon (Supersonic)
With unprecedented access to both George and Andrew’s personal archive including remarkable and never-before-seen footage, alongside rare, candid and previously unheard interviews, ‘WHAM!’ charts their incredible journey from school friends to superstars.
The documentary ‘WHAM!’ is released globally on Netflix on July 5th, 2023.
