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From : mythosum
Added: Apr 5, 2008
(1984) The song was first released as a solo George Michael single, while he was part of the pop group Wham!. Unlike all the Wham! singles (except Wham Rap!), it was co-written by Andrew Ridgeley, the other member of the duo. The two had written it together as unknowns three years earlier, when Michael was working as a cinema usher in Watford, England. In a June 2006 interview on London radio station Magic 105.4, Michael said that he wrote it "in his head" during work and that he recalls coming up with the saxophone riff whilst boarding a number 32 bus on the way home. Originally the riff had words, but Michael declined to state them, saying that they were very poor lyrics. The song went through at least two rounds of production. The first was during a trip Michael made to Muscle Shoals, Alabama where he went to work with the legendary producer Jerry Wexler at the venerable Muscle Shoals Studio. Michael was unhappy with the version that was originally produced and decided to re-record and produce the song himself, this time coming up with the version that was finally released. The version Wexler produced did, however, see the light of day, but only later on, as a (4:41) B-side "Special Version" on 12", released in England. A mid-tempo ballad with a soulful production standard and a remarkable saxophone solo (played by Steve Gregory), the single was issued in August 1984, entering the UK singles chart at number twelve. Within two weeks, it was at number one, ending a nine-week run at the top for "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It stayed at number one for three weeks, later going to the top of the charts in seventeen other countries, including the USA's Billboard Hot 100 in February 1985, although in the United States, it was credited as "Wham! featuring George Michael". George Michael was still very much committed to Wham! and was quickly back at number one with the duo with the song "Freedom", before ending the year at the top as part of Band Aid, meaning that he had number one hits in 1984 as part of three different entities - part of a duo, a solo artist and part of a charity ensemble. Wham! split in 1986, two months after Michael released his second solo single, entitled "A Different Corner", which had again gone to number one in the UK. He went on to have a highly successful, controversial and multi award-winning solo career. "Careless Whisper" is ranked number one on Billboard magazine's year-end chart for 1985. In a 2006 poll for a programme Britain's Favourite Break-up Songs, "Careless Whisper" was voted sixth
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