Could Andrew Ridgeley actually play the guitar?

darthed1981 · April 2022

LPManic said:

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.

Yeah I agree, and I believe he had a bit more to do with the band than many in here seem to think.

Kilgore · April 2022

I heard that he was kidnapped by aliens.

Offset · April 2022

From Wikipedia:

Ridgeley lives near Wadebridge, Cornwall, England, in a restored 15th-century farm property that he shared with his girlfriend since 1990, Keren Woodward,[28][29] a member of the group Bananarama. The couple separated in August 2017,[30] but rekindled their relationship in late 2019.

Sassafras · April 2022

Aren't we a bunch of nosey sods!

usedtobe · April 2022

Sassafras said:

Aren't we a bunch of nosey sods!

And..?

Matt_McG · April 2022

I heard this story from a former work colleague, 30 years ago, so it might be total bullshit, but ...

Work colleague of mine was a salesman, and had formerly worked in alcohol/cigarette sales and had a lot of contacts in the entertainment/club industry. One of his London mates, who ran some club (I believe), invited him to a party down in the SW of England somewhere at Exeter or Bath Rugby club, or some similar venue. Ridgeley turned up as he was a friend of this club owner/manager bloke. This is right at the tail end of Wham, and he was still famous. Everyone gets hammered. Ridgeley is very nice to everyone, gets his rounds in, drinks a bit too much, and asks if there's somewhere he can have a lie down. So, he goes off to have a nap in some room.

One enterprising wag spots an opportunity. Gets his girlfriend to get her kit off and climb into bed with the (sleeping) Ridgeley. Takes some snaps. Sells to the News of the World. Gets 10K (or whatever). Then, a few weeks later, sells a story, "I'm Bob, my girlfriend slept with A Ridgeley, this is my story..." gets another 5K (or whatever).

Ridgeley had done nothing, probably not even spoken to the girl in question. But a couple of tabloid stories got published, some people made a lot of money. He looks like a bit of a dick, when, in reality, he'd been a nice bloke and everyone had enjoyed his company.

axisus · April 2022

I saw him in an interview a few years ago and he was a lovely, gentle down to earth guy. You could tell his sadness at losing his pal. Apparently George was quoted as saying that he would never have had to courage to get up and sing without Andrew with him, so I think it's fair to say that he was integral to Wham. Personally I thought that the two of them together worked really well 'visually'. I don't think that George would have got off to such a good start purely as a solo artist.

A shedload of bloody good pop songs they had as well! One of my favourite 'nostalgia songs' is Last Christmas. A lovely song, and the video takes me right back to my college days.

SPECTRUM001 said:

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).

Actually he is only credited as co writing 2 songs, Club tropicana, and Careless Whisper - Ironic as it was released as a GM solo track!

jeztone2 · 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:

He sounds like he could cut the mustard in a mid 2000’s indie band.

Matt_McG · April 2022

Ah hah (Google to the rescue):

https://gmforever.com/andrew-ridgeley-on-what-the-papers-say-smash-hits-1985/

He refers to the story I mentioned above. So, looks like my former work colleague was basically telling the truth.

So how about clearing up a few of your Fleet Street stories? Where do we start?

Well, there was the one in Bristol, after the rugby club thing. That was the one when I was given 9 out of 10 by this girl for sexual performance! In another paper, though, it said I was too drunk to stand up, which was the truth. The girl got L500 for the story! The real story behind that was absolutely hilarious. But it wouldn’t look too good in print – you’d lose the nuance.

Blaendulais · April 2022

When they played live you didnt care about the guitar as Dion Estes bass was absolutely superb. Awesome player

kelpbeds · April 2022

He got into surfing in quite a big way and I believe was down in Cornwall a lot, not sure if he still surfs now.

LastMantra · April 2022

Kilgore said:

I heard that he was kidnapped by aliens.

The aliens seemed like really down to earth guys so best of luck to them.

Sassafras · April 2022

I always thought he was quite a natty dresser.

octatonic · April 2022

Married one of the Bananaramas, has about 50 million quid.
I don't think we should feel too sorry for him.

vasselmeyer · April 2022

Ok… nice guy, lots of money, handsome, fanny magnet etc etc., but has anyone actually seen or heard him playing guitar?

guitarjack66 · April 2022

vasselmeyer said:

Ok… nice guy, lots of money, handsome, fanny magnet etc etc., but has anyone actually seen or heard him playing guitar?

Who cares if you have all the rest!

dazzajl · April 2022

guitarjack66 said:

vasselmeyer said:

Ok… nice guy, lots of money, handsome, fanny magnet etc etc., but has anyone actually seen or heard him playing guitar?

Who cares if you have all the rest!

“As long as there was the sex and drugs, I could live without the rock n roll”

carlos · April 2022

vasselmeyer said:

Ok… nice guy, lots of money, handsome, fanny magnet etc etc., but has anyone actually seen or heard him playing guitar?

He looked good swinging his hips with a guitar hanging off his backside. Let the uglies back at the studio deal with the guitar playing.

jonnyburgo · April 2022

I heard that he lived in a cave in Morocco with Bez from the Happy Mondays at one point.

usedtobe · April 2022

jonnyburgo said:

I heard that he lived in a cave in Morocco with Bez from the Happy Mondays at one point.

Bez has no memory of it, apparently, so maybe just a rumour..

Philly_Q · April 2022

usedtobe said:

jonnyburgo said:

I heard that he lived in a cave in Morocco with Bez from the Happy Mondays at one point.

Bez has no memory of it, apparently, so maybe just a rumour..

If Bez has no memory of it, I think that confirms it.

impmann · April 2022

Philly_Q said:

usedtobe said:

jonnyburgo said:

I heard that he lived in a cave in Morocco with Bez from the Happy Mondays at one point.

Bez has no memory of it, apparently, so maybe just a rumour..

Bez has no memory .

FTFY

CE1 · April 2022

Bez is awesome, who else would try and cheat on celebrity bargain hunt ffs, what a legend!

Dominic · April 2022

Johnnyseven said:

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.

That must have been somewhere around Rickmansworth area
I used to know him and George back in the eighties .......I subsequently knew George a lot better and my best friend had a business partnership with him so I would see quite a lot of him and Pepsi and Shirley . I remember going to the opening of Andrew's bar/restaurant .......his Dad was very involved in it and hosted the evening as I remember

artiebear · April 2022

vasselmeyer said:

Ok… nice guy, lots of money, handsome, fanny magnet etc etc., but has anyone actually seen or heard him playing guitar?

A wisdom does not quite fit here, but 10/10 for a wonderfully apposite use of the somewhat forgotten term "fanny magnet"

vasselmeyer · April 2022

Dominic said:

Johnnyseven said:

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.

That must have been somewhere around Rickmansworth area
I used to know him and George back in the eighties .......I subsequently knew George a lot better and my best friend had a business partnership with him so I would see quite a lot of him and Pepsi and Shirley . I remember going to the opening of Andrew's bar/restaurant .......his Dad was very involved in it and hosted the evening as I remember

OK, so you've met him. Could Andrew Ridgeley actually play the guitar?

artiebear · April 2022

vasselmeyer said:

Dominic said:

Johnnyseven said:

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.

That must have been somewhere around Rickmansworth area
I used to know him and George back in the eighties .......I subsequently knew George a lot better and my best friend had a business partnership with him so I would see quite a lot of him and Pepsi and Shirley . I remember going to the opening of Andrew's bar/restaurant .......his Dad was very involved in it and hosted the evening as I remember

OK, so you've met him. Could Andrew Ridgeley actually play the guitar?

There is a philosophical question hereabouts. Is it better to be a guitar player and play the "Dog and Gonads" on a Saturday night after an upsetting local gangland funeral , or to make shedloads of money holding a guitar in roughly a playing position on TOTP ? That is, as they say, Showbiz.

Rob1742 · April 2022

He got caught up in the film partnerships that many of the top sportsmen and celebrities got caught up with. Tax planning that the government won against the investors in court. A pretty brutal affair that left a lot of them bankrupt if they had spent the funds they initially saved.
Most paid the money back ( if they could afford too) others went bankrupt but some are still fighting on. He maybe one of the ones fighting on.

I think income from royalties though would ensure he isn’t a victim of the film partnerships court cases

Johnnyseven · April 2022

Dominic said:

Johnnyseven said:

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.

That must have been somewhere around Rickmansworth area
I used to know him and George back in the eighties .......I subsequently knew George a lot better and my best friend had a business partnership with him so I would see quite a lot of him and Pepsi and Shirley . I remember going to the opening of Andrew's bar/restaurant .......his Dad was very involved in it and hosted the evening as I remember

Yeah, it was called 93 and was on Rickmansworth High Street.

hollywoodrox · April 2022

CavemanGrogg said:

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

I thought he drove some sort of race cars for a while and married one of bananarama (not siobahn)

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Could Andrew Ridgeley actually play the guitar?

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