George, George, George…..
In 1982 Andrew Ridgeley and Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou burst into almost instant stardom as a group called “Wham!”. You probably know the latter as George Michael. Now, these guys were cute! By that, I mean they wore cute little outfits with trendy expressions on too-tight too-short t-shirts. Not exactly my cup of tea. In fact, it was kinda obvious who’s cup of tea they were. But, the chicks still dug them BIG TIME, so us guys kept our mouths shut. WHAM! lasted a few years, cranked out a few hits, and spit up around 1986.
Michael by that point was cranking out his own hits. And, he did that quite a bit at the time. In 1998 Michael was busted performing lewd acts in a men’s bathroom. At that point, he decided it was time to confirm what the entire planet had known the entire time, he was gay. Michael continues to record to this day, and still makes some pretty good songs with some marketing success. However, at this time, he’s most likely to be found slumped over in his car passed out at 3am in the morning. He’s a wreck. He doesn’t seem to comprehend the fact that at 43, he’s not going to party all night long. Trust me George, I still try occasionally, it ain’t worth it. The trick you see, is to start EARLIER. AND NOT DRIVE DRUNK! His boyfriend needs to get him out of the car before he makes even bigger headlines for killing someone.
The less heralded of Wham! was Ridgeley. His music career pretty much stalled after Wham! At this time he’s apparently happily married with a kid, owns a restaurant ( Bar 92 ), races, and surfs.
Why is it so often that the quieter members of bands seem to be so much more satisfied with life than the stars? I mean, I could see living Ridgeley’s life at my age. I really could. George sounds like a living nightmare.
[...] closet gay, but your extremely flaming gay. He didn’t come right out and admit it, but like George Michael, you just knew it. Mercury was quite private. Not in a denial sort of way, but just very quiet [...]
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