It’s time to wake up Wham! fans and tell them to ‘go-go’ to Netflix!
The band that is responsible for propelling the late George Michael to fame is getting the documentary treatment.
The doc will provide fans with an extremely personal close-up into ‘Wham! mania’ courtesy of Michael’s bandmate, Andrew Ridgeley. Michael’s beloved bandmate is directly involved with the doc and gave the green light into the band’s widespread archives.
The trailer for “Wham!” dropped on Thursday; devotees for the “Careless Whisper” duo won’t have to wait long for its premiere!
Read on to find out more details, including the documentary’s premiere date!
‘Wham!’ Will Take A Look Into Michael And Ridgeley’s Friendship
Ridgeley, 60, and his bandmate were besties from the beginning and remained so through the band’s heightened success in the mid-eighties.
According to archive footage used in the trailer of an interview with Michael, the duo wasn’t even teenagers yet. Michael said they met when the “Last Christmas” singer was 11 and his bandmate was a year older. The Voiceover of Ridgeley reveals the “one thing [he] ever wanted to do be in a band with George.” (per Collider) The feeling was extremely mutual; Michael, who passed away in 2016, can be heard saying “Andrew changed my life in exactly the way someone needed to change my life if I was going to be a pop star.”
Ridgeley also acknowledges the importance of Wham’s success to Michael’s personal life; Michael came out as being gay in the late nineties in a live CNN interview and later became a passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, but in the mid-eighties, he had not come out publicly.
Audio of Michael speaking about being “uncomfortable” as a closeted gay man during the height of Wham’s success, can also be heard in the trailer. He also explains how the band’s success became the key factor in which he measured his personal success.
Ridgeley Gave His Personal Seal Of Approval To The Documentary’s Director
The surviving member of Wham feels “delighted” over the portrayal of the band’s career. Ridgeley gave his seal of approval to the documentary’s director, Chris Smith, who also directed “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.”
The singer told Rolling Stone, “He has come as close as anyone might to making tangible that which is the essence of Wham! and has done so with veracity and affection.”
Ridgeley writes in the Instagram caption of his post on the documentary, “I am delighted to bring you the news that WHAM!, the documentary film, is coming to Netflix on 5th of July 2023. It is a genuinely authentic account of WHAM!’s meteoric ascent to success and of how WHAM! came to find such a special place in the hearts of many,” he continued. “It was a joy to look back on such a wonderful chapter in young AJR & GM’s lives and I hope for many of you, likewise it’ll bring to life a golden era and the carefree joys of youth,” Ridgeley concluded.
Netflix’s “WHAM!” documentary will be released everywhere on July 5th!