Archivi: Storie Timeline

November 3, 2023

 

 

Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Philanthropist and Creative Icon, George Michael is considered one of the most influential recording artists of all time.

He rose to fame in the 1980s as a member of the duo WHAM!, selling over 30 million records. He later embarked on a solo career achieving immense success selling over 125 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart eight times in the US and hitting the No.1 spot on the UK singles charts seven times as a solo artist and redefining pop music in the process.

During a career that spanned thirty-five years George received a large collection of awards. He won two GRAMMYs, was nominated nine times, and won four American Music Awards as well as winning twelve Billboard awards and being nominated forty times. He also won three BRIT Awards. George always considered winning his first Ivor Novello Award for songwriting as one of the most special. George won six Ivor Novello Awards and not only is he the youngest person to win in 1985 at the age of 21, but also remains the only individual songwriter ever to win their prestigious Songwriter Of The Year Award three times.

July 7, 2023

The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven is the fourth compilation album by Wham!, released on 7 July 2023. It was released in a variety of formats in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the duo’s formation, with the standard physical and digital version containing the duo’s singles in chronological order that were released from 1982 to 1986, with the exception of Club Fantastic Megamix (although it is included on the expanded version) and Careless Whisper (partially credited to Wham! in some regions upon release in 1984), along with several B-sides.

The expanded digital version adds 17 tracks, made up of different mixes of the singles, which are included across the separate singles in the CD and seven-inch vinyl box sets.

The compilation was released two days following the Netflix release of the 2023 documentary film Wham!.

July 5, 2023

A documentary film about Wham! marks the 40th anniversary of their 1983 debut album Fantastic.

It was directed by Chris Smith and relies primarily on rare archive footage and audio interviews by the duo, including television appearances, concert footage, private home video, behind-the-scenes outtakes, and family comments all linked together using scrapbooks created by Andrew Ridgeley’s mother.

According to Netflix, Wham! was watched by 4.4 million people in its first five days of digital release worldwide in any language and ranked 8th for the most watched TV and film. It was the most-watched film in the United Kingdom debuting at number one for the week 3 July to 9 July 2023.