Wham! Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, formed in London in 1981. Influenced by funk and soul music and presenting themselves as disaffected youth, Wham's 1983 debut album "Fantastic" addressed the United Kingdom's unemployment problem for young people and teen angst over adulthood. Their second studio album "Make It Big" in 1984 was a worldwide pop smash hit, charting number one in both the UK and the United States. The singles from the album — "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Everything She Wants" and "Careless Whisper" — all topped the Billboard Hot
Wham! 100 chart in the US. In 1985, Wham made a highly publicized 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group. The event was seen as a major watershed moment in increasing friendly bilateral relations between China and the West. Wham became one of the most successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more than 30 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 former school friends