Andrew Ridgeley

Ridgeley was born in Windlesham, Surrey, England, to Jennifer Jill (née Dunlop) (1943–2009) and Alberto Mario Zacharia (1933–2015), who later changed his surname to Ridgeley; his mother was of English and Scottish descent and his father was of Jewish, Italian, Yemeni and Egyptian descent; his father's family were expelled from Egypt as a result of the Suez Crisis.

Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham!.

He has one sibling, Paul, born February 1964.

Ridgeley grew up in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and attended Bushey Meads School.

His mother was a schoolteacher at Bushey Heath Primary School while his father worked for Canon.

When George Michael started school, Ridgeley volunteered to take him under his wing.

After the break-up of the short-lived group The Executive (of which Ridgeley, his brother Paul, and Michael were members), Michael and Ridgeley formed the duo Wham!

They made their U.S. debut on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, becoming the only 1980s British act to have three No. 1 singles on both the U.K. and U.S. charts.

in 1981.

Michael was the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and played keyboards, while Ridgeley co-wrote songs, played guitar, and performed backing vocals.

They approached various record labels with a homemade demo tape–which took ten minutes to record in Ridgeley's living room–and signed with Innervision Records (distributed by CBS Records).

After one album, the duo signed with Epic Records/CBS.

Wham!

enjoyed worldwide success from 1982 to 1986, selling more than 35 million records worldwide.

In 1984, Ridgeley underwent surgery to have his septum straightened to improve his breathing after having broken his nose at age nine.

After photos were published in British newspapers showing Ridgeley's bandaged face, Wham!'s manager, Simon Napier-Bell, fabricated a story that the bandages were the result of Ridgeley having been hit in the nose in a nightclub.

After days of tabloid headlines, the true reason was revealed.

In 1984, Wham!

charted two U.K. No. 1 singles, and were competing that year with pop rivals Duran Duran to be Britain's biggest pop act.

Toward this end, Napier-Bell devised a publicity scheme that he believed would turn them into major international stars: In April 1985, he took Wham!

to China for a ten-day visit.

They gained huge worldwide media attention when Wham!

became the first Western pop group to play in China: after two warm-up shows in Hong Kong, they played a show in Beijing in front of 15,000 people at the Worker's Gymnasium, and one final show in Canton.

The visit was recorded for a documentary film titled Wham! in China: Foreign Skies.

In 1985, Ridgeley performed at the Live Aid charity concert with other backing singers, while Michael performed with Elton John.

By 1985, Ridgeley had developed a reputation in the tabloid press as a drunken party animal at nightclubs; the British tabloids referred to him as "Animal Andy" and "Randy Andy".

He was ordered to leave the official party at the end of the Live Aid concert in 1985 for his unruly behaviour.

In 1986, "The Edge of Heaven" became Wham!'s fourth and final U.K. No. 1 single.

With Michael keen to move into a more adult market, the duo broke up after a farewell concert dubbed "The Final" in front of 72,000 people at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, 28 June 1986.

Shortly after the breakup, Ridgeley moved to Monaco and tried his hand at Formula Three motor racing.

Meeting with little success, he moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of a career in acting.

He returned to Britain permanently in 1990.

CBS Records (later Sony Music), having taken up the option on Wham!'s contract that specified solo albums from Michael and Ridgeley, released a guitar- and drum-driven solo recording from Ridgeley, Son of Albert, in 1990.

His brother Paul, an occasional percussionist for Bananarama, played drums on the album, whilst Paul Gray, bassist with early punk rock band the Damned played the bass.

The first single from the album was "Shake"; it reached No. 16 on the Australian singles chart and No. 58 in the UK Singles Chart.

"Shake" was the 81st highest-selling single of 1990 in Australia.

The second single, "Red Dress", charted in Australia but peaked outside the top 100.

Son of Albert sold poorly, failing to make the top 75 in the UK Albums Chart.

It was also one of the worst received albums of 1990 among critics, achieving only half a star in a savage Rolling Stone magazine review.

As a result, CBS passed up the option of a second album.