Wham! have made chart history after Last Christmas finally completed the longest ever journey to Christmas No1.
It’s almost four decades since it was initially released. With LadBaby pulling out of the race it was finally possible, although only after a fair fight with Sam Ryder.
Although it’s not the first time Last Christmas topped the normal charts, but it did take 36 years for that to happen, it first earned them a trophy on New Year’s Day 2021. Of course it’s a tragedy that George Michael isn’t here to witness this festive achievement himself – Christmas Day marks the seventh anniversary of his tragic death.
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However, his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley couldn’t be prouder, telling the Official Charts: “George would be beside himself after all of these years, we’ve finally obtained Christmas Number 1. “Yog [George] said that he wrote Last Christmas with the intention of writing a Christmas Number 1. It’s mission accomplished!”
The song was George’s masterpiece, coming up with it in an hour when he and Andrew were visiting George’s parents.
Andrew revealed: “We’d had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so. When he came back down, such was his excitement, it was as if he had discovered gold which, in a sense, he had.
(Image: PA)
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“We went to his old room, the room in which we had spent hours as kids recording pastiches of radio shows and jingles, the room where he kept a keyboard and something on which to record his sparks of inspiration, and he played me the introduction and the beguiling, wistful chorus melody to Last Christmas. “It was a moment of wonder.”
(Image: PA)
However, the band’s former manager Simon Napier-Bell has revealed how George felt frustrated that the best tune of his career was a Christmas one. He said: “George, above all, really wanted to be remembered as a great songwriter and I think at the bottom of his mind it was rather annoying that the song he got so perfect was a Christmas song.”
Wham-Bam, here’s some facts…
(Image: @Wham_Official/youtube)
- After 36 years it finally reached No1 on the UK singles chart on New Year’s Day in 2021. Before that it held the record for the highest-selling single never to top the charts.
- The 1984 video is the last time George Michael was ever seen without a beard.
- George was sued for plagiarism for alleged similarities to The Carpenters’ Can’t Smile Without You. The case was dismissed.
- Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp denies that he features in the music video, and joked his now wife Shirlie Holliman was “playing around with an actor” that looked like him.
- George produced and played every instrument on the recording.
- The single was a double A-side with Everything She Wants, which was the song played on US radio to get it to No1.
- Wham! donated all proceeds from their single to Band Aid.
- George plastered the studio in decorations to set the mood despite it being summer.
- Last Christmas has currently been streamed more than 1.6 billion times.
- The iconic song has now achieved 6x platinum in the UK and US.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
