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ONE of the greatest sadnesses of George Michael’s sudden death on Christmas Day in 2016 was that he loved the festive season.
It was this adoration that led to his decision to record hit single Last Christmas 40 years ago, just as he was morphing from a teen pin-up to serious songwriter.
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But the move was no surprise to his Wham! bandmates Andrew Ridgeley, Helen “Pepsi” DeMacque-Crockett and Shirlie Kemp, as they had all experienced George’s indulgent Christmas Eve parties.
In new BBC Two documentary Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped, they reveal the megastar had a special reason for considering it the most wonderful time of the year.
At this week’s launch of the film — which sees the Last Christmas video cast return to the Swiss resort of Saas-Fee where it was filmed — Shirlie, 62, said of George: “Christmas was bigger than him, so he could disguise himself in Christmas.
‘Desperate moment’
“That was one of the reasons he loved that time of year, and why he liked to go carol singing.
“Imagine if everyone had iPhones back then. Our Christmas Eves were the best.”
Shirlie wasn’t just talking figuratively, either. George genuinely viewed the opportunity to wear festive fancy dress as his chance to go out in public without anyone recognising him.
And that meant strangers on a London bus being unwittingly serenaded by one of Britain’s biggest pop stars, plus his strangely familiar backing singers.
Pepsi, 66, laughs as she recalls their costume adventures with George, explaining: “He lived in a little mews house on Kensington High Street and he went, ‘Right, let’s go!’. He had all the wigs and everything.
“We sang in front of a house and then we’d end up in a pub spending the money that we had collected. Then it was like, ‘OK, let’s go over there’, and it was like, ‘No, it’s too far to walk’.
“So we got on a bus with the wigs and everything, and then we’d end up in another pub, causing havoc.”
Andrew, now 61, cautiously adds: “It was only the first verse and chorus we’d sing. That was the full extent of our knowledge of carols.”
The documentary, which airs on Saturday night, looks at how 1984’s Last Christmas — which sold almost two million copies — was conceived by George, who died unexpectedly eight years ago, aged 53.
Taking part was a bittersweet experience, particularly for Andrew, who formed Wham! with George in 1981 after they became pals at Bushey Meads School in Hertfordshire.
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Describing the depth of his mourning for the singer, he tells the documentary: “To lose such a close friend, someone that you have a particular friendship with and a particular bond, was a truly desperate moment.
“He was essentially my other half. I never conceived of a future without him. I think he would have loved to have been here at this point in our lives.”
He added of George’s closest allies: “There was a core of friends who’d been our friends for some time.
“Pat and Cheryl would be there, as a rule, and Jonny and Dave, whom I’d met at college when I was 16, and we’ve knocked about together ever since.”
Shirlie reveals she struggled to celebrate Christmas for many years after George died. But she eventually realised this would not have gone down well with her mate, who she still feels is with her in some way.
She said: “You’ve just got to be really open and positive when you’ve lost someone — that they are always around you — because if it helps you cope, it’s what you should do.
“When you’ve loved someone and they’ve loved you, that doesn’t disappear.”
The documentary explores how much it meant to George to fulfil the dream of giving Wham! a Christmas No1.
It was one of the few things the band had not achieved in the year or two since they hit the big time with tunes such as Club Tropicana and Bad Boys.
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They had also scored huge hits in 1984 with tracks including Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go — their first UK No1 single — and George’s memorable solo tune, Careless Whisper.
A festive chart-topper felt like the next target.
But those hopes were dashed by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?, which George actually ended up singing on.
Far from feeling resentful in the end, the big-hearted star pledged all the royalties from Last Christmas to the same famine relief cause.
He went straight to recording the track for organiser Bob Geldof in London after getting off a flight from Saas-Fee, having shot the iconic video for Last Christmas.
That was where George was seen frolicking in the snow with his love interest, who he sang about giving his heart to, before lamenting, “then the very next day you gave it away”.
‘Music was his children’
The woman in question was model Kathy Hill, now 67 — the only member of the cast who was not part of George and Andrew’s tight-knit group of pals who all appeared in the video.
The new documentary sees her, and the rest of the line-up from the Last Christmas video, return to Saas-fee for a highly emotional trip down memory lane.
It included visiting the chalet where they shot most of the footage, and recollections of some of the mishaps — including losing the brooch that was a central prop in the story of George’s doomed love affair.
In the documentary, Shirlie explains: “George really was the instigator of having his friends around him. I think he had the insight that it is quite a lonely business, and you travel a lot, so he wanted all the people he knew really well around him.”
At the film launch, Andrew recalled how they all went skinny dipping in Saas-Fee, which landed them in a lot of trouble with the hotel manager.
Not surprisingly, there was a great deal of alcohol consumed, particularly during the festive dinner party scene which did not have to be faked in any way.
Andrew got so drunk on wine when they filmed the famous meal, where George stares at the woman who spurned him, that he ended up having to duck out of the final scenes to sober up.
I think he realised Wham! was a vehicle in which his songwriting could flourish.
Andrew Ridgeley
He says: “It was a real privilege to be able to go back with old friends. And it might as well have been the day after.
“No one has changed in any way, not in character at any rate.
“It was just a wonderful experience and feeling to share with them back there, though obviously we were missing a very important person.”
Andrew talks with huge affection about how important Last Christmas was to George, who he always called Yog as it was a shortened version of his real name, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.
Even though its Christmas theme made it seem like a novelty track, the single represented a huge evolution in his songwriting.
It was a talent that would see him go on to sell more than 100million records as a solo artist. Andrew said: “Yog felt undervalued as a songwriter, and the best way to make a point was with No1s.
“The naysayers had been proved wrong throughout 1984 and his confidence had grown.
“I think he realised Wham! was a vehicle in which his songwriting could flourish.
“Through (1984 album) Make It Big and Last Christmas, it was some of his best work.”
It makes me feel very grateful and thankful for that which Wham! meant to people.
Andrew Ridgeley
Despite George’s huge efforts, the track did not actually become a Christmas No1 until last year.
It finally hit the top spot partly because of a whole new generation discovering the song and even recreating the video on social media.
Andrew said in the documentary: “Everyone wanted that No1 status and 2023 was that year. That Wham! and Last Christmas has reached so far, and touched so deeply so may people, is remarkable.
“It makes me feel very grateful and thankful for that which Wham! meant to people.”
Shirlie, whose TV presenter son Roman Kemp was George’s godson, added: “Here we are honouring a song that he wrote that was so amazing.
“His music was his children, it was his purpose.
“So the fact that we’re still honouring it among younger generations, he would love that.
“It’s amazing to write a song that you know is going to be around every Christmas. He was a genius.”
- Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped airs on BBC Two on Saturday at 8.35pm.
