George Michael really had a stroke of genius when he sat down to pen the lyrics to ‘Last Christmas’.
The late and great singer – who died on Christmas Day in 2016 aged 53 – managed to make us feel festive, forlorn and fabulous all at the same time with the hit track.
It’s quite the mean feat, especially when you consider the fact that the London-born star wrote it in his childhood bedroom at the tender age of 21.
His Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley was sat downstairs watching telly while Micheal was coming up with the catchy lyrics, and later described the first time he heard them as a ‘moment of wonder’.
I’m sure we would all have liked to be a fly on the wall for that moment in music history.
But as we’re still waiting to see whether Santa brings that time machine a few of us have requested, we will have to be satisfied with finding out a few of the secrets behind ‘Last Christmas’ instead.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the feel good festive tune, a host of famous faces and fans have got together to tell the story of how Michael’s song became a cultural phenomenon.
Stars including Mary J Blige, Sir Bob Geldof, Neil Tennant and Sam Smith will appear in the BBC Two documentary, which is titled Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped.
As well as this, Brits can watch the iconic cast from the 1984 music video reunite at the Swiss resort of Saas-Fee, where it was filmed a whopping four decades ago.
Ridgeley, Pepsi DeMacque-Crockett, Shirlie Kemp, Jonny Fowler, Pat Fernandes, Cheryl Harrison and David Ridler descended on the snow-laden paradise for a trip down memory lane.
But if you just can’t wait until the documentary airs on Saturday (14 December) night, we’ve got some tidbits of incredible knowledge that should tide you over.
Ahead of its debut, Michael’s close pals shared some anecdotes about the singer’s creative process and what his motivations were for the Christmas song.
For starts, his backup singer and friend Shirlie Kemp revealed why Michael adored the festive season so much.
“Christmas was bigger than him, so he could disguise himself in Christmas,” she said. “That was one of the reasons he loved that time of year, and why he liked to go carol singing.”
Ridgeley then went on to open up about the real reason why Michael – who he affectionately nicknamed ‘Yog’ as it is a condensed version of his real name Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou – wrote ‘Last Christmas’.
The record producer, 61, explained: “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,” Ridgeley said.
“Through [the 1994 album] Make It Big and ‘Last Christmas’, it was some of his best work.”
So, like many musicians, Michael was vying to make it to the top spot in the charts – but sadly, he never lived to see it happen to ‘Last Christmas’.
The track originally hit the radio in December 1984, but it was famously beaten by Band Aid’s charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas? and didn’t get a look in the following years either.
However, last Christmas – no pun intended – everything changed as the nostalgic track made history as the longest ever journey to make it to the top spot in time for Christmas Day.
In the BBC Two doc, Ridgeley added: “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.”
Celebrating the news last year, the singer said Michael – who he described as his ‘other half’ – would have been ‘beside himself’ after finally achieving his goal.
“Thwarted for many years subsequent to that – the perennial bridesmaid – over recent years it seems it’s become part of the fabric of Christmas for a lot of people,” Ridgeley added.
