Quotes from Andrew Ridgeley

It's 33 years since we drew Wham! to a close and a lot of people's perspectives have changed and a lot of the rough edges have been knocked off.

We were both dabbling with music but no, I persuaded George, railroaded him really into forming a band. I think we both had the belief that we would make it. That was the central pillar around everything else.

I used to love going out to discos. Chatting up the girls, getting a dance.

There are people much better placed to make music than me. It's always been a young person's game.

I had posted a note on my bedroom door for my mum to 'wake me up-up before you go-go' - and that gave George the idea for the song.

It goes without saying that when it came to musical talent, George was in a completely different league to me - as he was to most people!

Nothing had prepared me for the depth of pain George's death precipitated.

We don't like our lives being monitored, so when someone dies alone, perhaps there are always answers that remain out of reach.

Our demo tape we got signed on was composed of three songs, 'Wham Rap,' half of 'Club Tropicana' and a verse and the chorus of 'Careless Whisper' and we thought that was good enough.

Give yourself a healthy bit of distance between your fame and reality because they are two different things.

George is so prolific as a writer.

One of the promises we made to each other was that Wham! would never be resurrected because it was about being young.

George was adamant his sexuality should be kept under wraps, which created a wholly unwelcome extra level of stress for him to manage.

Perhaps the biggest lesson that I would say is the one to learn is not to let fame and fortune get inside your head.

It's very difficult to put it into words or really put your finger on exactly what it was that people found so attractive about Wham! But it was a lot to do with George and me and our friendship.

We were bringing Wham! to a close, but we weren't bringing our friendship to a close.

The video for 'Last Christmas' was shot in the early winter of 1984 in the Swiss ski resort of Saas Fee. It was a glorious affair, and the two days we spent shooting it were a riot of laughter and fun, which I think comes across.

It's nice to watch great acts perform their material. But I can't say that it tweaks any desire within.

We were in a little bubble to a degree, but you'd never really know what was going on elsewhere, you'd done a tour in the States and then you wouldn't really know what the reaction was out of the shows because it wasn't immediate on Instagram and Twitter. It wasn't perhaps as broad as it is these days, it was fab though.

I think it'd be pretty juvenile to make a record as a reaction to my critics.

Certainly that's what I like in a lot of the music that I listen to, kind of a sexual energy. Guitars and rock get it across best for me.

For a while, I really wasn't fussed about having a public profile. I have come to the realization that I am a lot more comfortable with it than I was.

One has to spend time sort of really going back through one's memories. When you do start doing that then, you do recall more as time goes on.

It's an amazing privilege to perform for an audience paying to hear the music that you've recorded.