Could Andrew Ridgeley actually play the guitar?

vasselmeyer · April 2022

I have to admit that the "Wham!" thread got me thinking of Andrew Ridgeley rather than Roy Lichtenstein and I came back to the question of whether he could actually play guitar or not. A YouTube search led me to this which is alleged to be an isolated track of his guitar from the Wham! "Wembley the Final

Whether it's a cruel joke or not...it's really funny:

rze99 · April 2022

smirk. A wind up.

CavemanGrogg · April 2022

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

DrCornelius · April 2022

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

Don’t think so . We went skiing about 10 years back to a nice place in Canada (Newfoundland). He owned a big ski chalet on the resort and was a very well liked chap according to the people I spoke to.

Not saying you couldn’t afford to buy the place on a regular salary but it certainly didn’t scream ‘hard up’

Philly_Q · April 2022

I don't think anyone has ever really claimed that his role was much more than wingman/emotional support for George Michael, who at that stage lacked the self confidence to be a solo artist.

Just looking on Wikipedia, he is credited with playing guitar on most Wham! tracks, although there were also many session musicians in attendance. However, he apparently didn't play guitar on his own solo album:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Albert

Philly_Q · April 2022

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

I think that was David Van Day from Dollar.

CavemanGrogg · April 2022

DrCornelius said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

Don’t think so . We went skiing about 10 years back to a nice place in Canada (Newfoundland). He owned a big ski chalet on the resort and was a very well liked chap according to the people I spoke to.

Not saying you couldn’t afford to buy the place on a regular salary but it certainly didn’t scream ‘hard up’

I've heard from lots of people he's a really nice bloke, also heard, don't know where from though and it was a number of years ago, that he got into the take away business, I thought it was a Chippie, or chain of them he opened after Wham split up. It was something I heard, so I've no idea whether there is any truth to it, for all I know whoever told me that could have meant that he fronted the cash, or even invested in a Chippie, Chippie franchise.

VimFuego · April 2022

CavemanGrogg said:

DrCornelius said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

Don’t think so . We went skiing about 10 years back to a nice place in Canada (Newfoundland). He owned a big ski chalet on the resort and was a very well liked chap according to the people I spoke to.

Not saying you couldn’t afford to buy the place on a regular salary but it certainly didn’t scream ‘hard up’

I've heard from lots of people he's a really nice bloke, also heard, don't know where from though and it was a number of years ago, that he got into the take away business, I thought it was a Chippie, or chain of them he opened after Wham split up. It was something I heard, so I've no idea whether there is any truth to it, for all I know whoever told me that could have meant that he fronted the cash, or even invested in a Chippie, Chippie franchise.

story I heard was he became a surf bum down in Cornwall, I guess it's entirely possible he opened a surf food type place down there.

markv · April 2022

Philly_Q said:

I don't think anyone has ever really claimed that his role was much more than wingman/emotional support for George Michael, who at that stage lacked the self confidence to be a solo artist.

I think that includes Andrew Ridgeley himself. His book "Wham! George and Me" is surprisingly readable, although probably mostly of interest to people if you were there, to coin a Wham!-related phrase. He basically says that although he was the driving force behind forming the band in the first place, he realised early on that George Michael was the real talent and was happy to support him.

I got the impression from the book that he was happy to have his few years in the limelight and then semi-retire back to semi-normality, basically set for life. Which seems like a fair deal to me!

And that recording is amusing but obviously fake.

markv · April 2022

I can't remember enough about the book to know what he did afterwards though - sorry!

usedtobe · April 2022

I think he could play ‘up to a point’..
Guy from Dollar had a burger van, apparently..
Only thing I’ve really heard of AR since Wham! was the solo album (surprised he didn’t play on it) I’m sure I saw him performing a track from it on tv, which I thought was ‘ok’..
also read that he lives quietly in a village down south, somewhere.. gets on with the locals, and is well liked..

usedtobe · April 2022

vasselmeyer said:

I have to admit that the "Wham!" thread got me thinking of Andrew Ridgeley rather than Roy Lichtenstein and I came back to the question of whether he could actually play guitar or not. A YouTube search led me to this which is alleged to be an isolated track of his guitar from the Wham! "Wembley the Final

Whether it's a cruel joke or not...it's really funny:

Haven’t played this yet, but Page at Knebworth probably doesn’t sound a lot better..

Redlester · April 2022

I think the above comments about him being a support to George are largely right.

I think in interviews George remarked that Andrew was actually the one with the confidence and charisma to start with. George sort of grew into the role and then he really took off.

I actually think AR comes across really well. It must turn things upside down for you to have such fame and fortune so early, but he's clearly made peace with the world.

CavemanGrogg · April 2022

VimFuego said:

CavemanGrogg said:

DrCornelius said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

Don’t think so . We went skiing about 10 years back to a nice place in Canada (Newfoundland). He owned a big ski chalet on the resort and was a very well liked chap according to the people I spoke to.

Not saying you couldn’t afford to buy the place on a regular salary but it certainly didn’t scream ‘hard up’

I've heard from lots of people he's a really nice bloke, also heard, don't know where from though and it was a number of years ago, that he got into the take away business, I thought it was a Chippie, or chain of them he opened after Wham split up. It was something I heard, so I've no idea whether there is any truth to it, for all I know whoever told me that could have meant that he fronted the cash, or even invested in a Chippie, Chippie franchise.

story I heard was he became a surf bum down in Cornwall, I guess it's entirely possible he opened a surf food type place down there.

Like I said I heard it was a Chippie, and that it was based in the Nort or North East of England. I know Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry has a restraunt, and is very actively involved in it, bumped in to him a few times at it and around it, he's also an extremely nice man. I used to live near Ronnie Corbett's holiday home, he used to have an amazing restraunt near a town called Aberlady, absolutely amazing food, though Ronnie Corbett didn't have much to do with the place besides owning it, can't remember what it was called, but the ex and I used to eat there a lot.

SPECTRUM001 · April 2022

I believe (though may be wrong) that George remained loyal to his childhood friend and support - to the point of paying Andrew a regular percentage of his Wham publishing royalties (albeit Andrew also got quite a few co-writer credits).

Have always thought AR was very cool - as if he had nothing to prove...

Devil#20 · April 2022

Philly_Q said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

I think that was David Van Day from Dollar.

Yeah but his chippie had 4 wheels and and engine at the front.

Blueingreen · April 2022

He was a pop star. A good looking bloke for the girls to scream at. Especially if you back to the 60s, what percentage of parts on records by pop groups were played by session players? I imagine most of the guys in the actual bands could play to some extent, just not well enough to get a good recording down quickly. Not unusual for backing vocals etc to be done by session people either.

So even if he couldn't play very well it would hardly make him an anomaly.

Philly_Q · April 2022

Devil#20 said:

Philly_Q said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

I think that was David Van Day from Dollar.

Yeah but his chippie had 4 wheels and and engine at the front.

I know, Burger Van Day... but I didn't feel like going into detail, it was close enough.

Bork · April 2022

Philly_Q said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

I think that was David Van Day from Dollar.

Image: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/13/article-2323579-002D652600000258-145_634x561.jpg

slacker · April 2022

Didn't he get into motor racing and green activism? Not at the same time obviously.

mudslide73 · April 2022

slacker said:

Didn't he get into motor racing and green activism? Not at the same time obviously.

I remember he used to crash a lot.

Danny1969 · April 2022

I saw an interview where he had some kind of surf / mountain bike shop in Cornwall. He has a writing credit on Careless Whisper so can quite easily live on that alone I would have thought

Sporky · April 2022

I heard he founded the glass-blowing school that Carol Smillie and Jennifer Powell now own and run.

LPManic · April 2022

He must have made fair bit of dough from Wham! Fair play to him. Wham!'s Greatest Hits is nothing to be sniffed at. All crackers.

Musicwolf · April 2022

slacker said:

Didn't he get into motor racing and green activism? Not at the same time obviously.

He moved to Monaco and had a shot at Formula 3, then he moved to America and tried acting. Neither ventures particularly successful.

Danny1969 said:

I He has a writing credit on Careless Whisper so can quite easily live on that alone I would have thought

Reconned to have pulled in c£10m from Wham! Net worth today, c£18m (couldn't find any figures that relate to what, if any, percentage of this came from a suppossed chippy).

Genral consensus seems to be that he's a nice chap who's content with his lot - so good luck to him.

bertie · April 2022

Im in the "more emotional support/wingman/best mate" and moved to Cornwall camp

CaseOfAce · April 2022

I'm guessing he can probably play basic chords etc.. the only way to confirm would be to listen to the first album (Wham Rap etc..) / live bootlegs when they were still raw... and even then any heavy lifting would have been done by session guys?
I guess it was never a requirement of his job - guitar as prop etc..having pearly white teeth and good hair was probably more important to the overall package!

Lives a quiet life Cornwall now with one of Bananarama?

EricTheWeary · April 2022

The earliest version of Wham! was as The Executive and they were a sort of 2Tone type band. Turned down by Go Feet records, which was a subsidiary of Chrysalis set up for The Beat and artists signed by The Beat. So the late Ranking Roger had the claim to fame of being the person who turned down signing George Michael to a record label.

CaseOfAce said:

I'm guessing he can probably play basic chords etc.. the only way to confirm would be to listen to the first album (Wham Rap etc..) / live bootlegs when they were still raw... and even then any heavy lifting would have been done by session guys?
I guess it was never a requirement of his job - guitar as prop etc..having pearly white teeth and good hair was probably more important to the overall package!

Lives a quiet life Cornwall now with one of Bananarama?

Split up with the Bananarama person apparently. Although shacking up with a member of Bananarama that was surely living the dream.

DartmoorHedgehog · April 2022

Philly_Q said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

I think that was David Van Day from Dollar.

No, definitely Elvis

CE1 · April 2022

I am no wham fan by any stretch but from what I have seen his role is much underplayed. There are probably thousands of people around with the talent to make big but never do, what is much rarer is that combination of everything needed to make it. I think AR provided skills that GM didn’t have and that the combination worked incredibly well for them initially. I think being mates helped immensely. That he can make enough to then go on and have a chilled out life shows to me that actually he was the one that came out the best of them in the end.

Johnnyseven · April 2022

CavemanGrogg said:

Didn't he open a Chippie or some other take away after Wham?

He had a bar/restaurant/nightclub in the town I grew up in in the late eighties.

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Could Andrew Ridgeley actually play the guitar?

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