Wham

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Wham! were an English musical duo formed by members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in 1981.They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band. Wham! sold more than 28 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986.

Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads School in Bushey near the town of Watford in Hertfordshire. The two at first performed in a short-lived ska band called The Executive, alongside of former school friends David (Austin) Mortimer, Andrew Leaver and Paul Ridgeley. When this group split, Michael and Ridgeley eventually formed Wham!, signing with Innervision Records.

Michael took on the majority of roles and responsibilities within the band—composer, producer, lead singer, and occasional instrumentalist. 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.

The debut record to be released by the band was "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" in June 1982. It was a double A-side including the Social Mix and the Unsocial Mix. The record was not playlisted by BBC Radio 1 in the UK, partly because of the profanity in the Unsocial 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. Initially, it also stalled outside the UK Top 40 but the band got lucky when the BBC programme Top of the Pops scheduled them after another act unexpectedly pulled out of the show.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgZ7gMze7A

"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is a song by the British duo Wham!, first released as a single in the UK on 14 May 1984. It became their first UK and US number one hit. It was written and produced by George Michael. The single was certified Platinum in the US, which at the time commemorated sales of over two million copies.

In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 13th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV. It was also ranked number 28 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s.

Michael's inspiration for the song was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Ridgeley's parents, originally intended to read "wake me up before you go" but with "up" accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote "go" twice on purpose. Released in May 1984, it heralded the beginning of a softer, sunnier image for Wham!, who had spent the previous year as a moodier, more politically themed duo, with songs about unemployment, young marriage, and battles of will between parents and their children. With the release of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", they re-emerged with wider smiles, more colourful clothing, and a more positive disposition in interviews.

In 1984, George Michael had this to say on the development of the song:

"I just wanted to make a really energetic pop record that had all the best elements of Fifties and Sixties records, combined with our attitude and our approach, which is obviously more uptempo and a lot younger than some of those records. It's one of those tracks that gets rid of a lot of your own personal influences; it reminds me of so many different records that I couldn't actually nail them down. I'd done a demo at home that just had a bass line and a vocal on it. Usually, I write the record in my head; I know what all the parts are going to be and I sing them to all our musicians. And it was great. ... We actually did it as a rehearsal. We used a Linn drum because the drummer was late, and it was such a good track that we kept it."

The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number four — after much hype from the duo claiming they would go straight in at number one, which was a rare occurrence then — and climbed to the top spot seven days later, staying there for two weeks. The song also went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, holding the top spot for three weeks.

The UK sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, with photography by Trevor Key.

The song was featured in the films Rock Odyssey, The Big Picture, Charlie's Angels, Zoolander, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Tween Academy: Class of 2012, Happy Feet Two, Kath & Kimderella, Walking on Sunshine, Zoolander 2, Sausage Party, Sing and The LEGO Batman Movie.

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Wham - Everything She Wants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8xt5BGegj8

"Everything She Wants" is a million-selling Gold-certified hit single by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in 1984 on Epic Records on a double A-side with "Last Christmas". It was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo, becoming their third consecutive million-selling number one hit in the United States.