19. Feeding the World

The invitation to appear on one of the biggest singles in pop history arrived shortly after we returned from Saas-Fee. A fax appeared, requesting my presence at SARM West Studios in Notting Hill on 25 November to contribute to a Christmas single. Beyond that, there was very little other detail, although I knew that SARM was owned by Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s producer, Trevor Horn.

I’d been up to my neck in rehearsals for our forthcoming tour. Like so many of the approaches that came in to our management company, I dismissed the fax as being of little importance. That there were no record company names and contact details on it, or travel information, only compounded the impression that it wasn’t official business. Only later did I appreciate that the lack of detail was a deliberate effort to keep one of the most momentous recordings in British pop history under wraps until it could be announced to maximum effect. And so I missed out on Band Aid.

While George was in West London, recording ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ with the cream of British rock and pop talent, I was enjoying a lie-in followed by a leisurely Sunday morning with the papers and a bacon and egg sandwich. It was only when I later met up with George for more rehearsals that I finally grasped the magnitude of what had taken place.

Pulled together by Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof and Midge Ure from Ultravox, Band Aid’s ranks included members of U2, Heaven 17, Kool & the Gang, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Bananarama and Status Quo. Phil Collins, Paul Young and Sting were there too. George should have been happy to be singing alongside them, but he was upset following the recording. Paul Weller had taken exception to George’s description earlier in the year of miners’ union leader Arthur Scargill as ‘a wanker’ and told him so. Unknowingly Weller had hit a raw nerve.

Wham! had been a controversial addition to the bill at a miners’ strike benefit gig at the Royal Festival Hall a few months previously. ‘Club Tropicana’ had been seen by the music press as a betrayal of the social conscience in evidence on ‘Wham Rap’ and ‘Young Guns’. Our decision to appear at the benefit dressed all in white didn’t help lend us political gravitas either. We then annoyed the organisers when George insisted we lip-sync our set rather than play the songs live. He hated not being in complete control of our sound and, given some of the snide comments over our inclusion, was paranoid that one of the sound engineers might attempt to nobble us. We were conscious of a growing antipathy towards Wham! from music snobs within the industry and George believed we were being undermined at every opportunity. He didn’t want our detractors to land another cheap shot.

‘But we’re good enough,’ I reasoned beforehand. ‘We play live all the time. It’s going to be fine.’

George shook his head. ‘No, we’ll have a backing tape. That way no one can mess with us.’

I tried to argue that lip-syncing might prove counter-productive. I feared it would hand our detractors even more ammunition to aim at us if word were to leak out, only reinforcing a view within music circles that Wham! was not the Real Deal.

It wasn’t the first time either. There had been similar trouble when we had played on Channel 4’s The Tube. It prided itself on being a live show, but once again George antagonised everybody by insisting we lip-sync as if we were on Top of the Pops. His need to have complete control over our sound meant he would not be persuaded, but his inflexibility backfired horribly. After we’d performed the first of two songs, the sound engineer started the second track while George was still introducing it. He was incandescent. As far as he was concerned, our performance had been maliciously scuppered on live TV, making us a laughing stock. Well, you bloody asked for that, mate, I thought. It had been a pratfall entirely of his own making.

But to then be confronted by Paul Weller during the recording of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ – a charity event – only amplified George’s feeling that he was under siege. He felt Weller’s comments were inappropriate, but, most importantly, it wasn’t how he would have treated another artist in a similar position. George was at Band Aid because it was an altruistic gesture he wanted to support. To then be grilled by another artist in the same position was distressing.

While I was able to shrug off any criticism of me for not attending the recording, it hardly meant that I was unmoved by the situation in Ethiopia. The reporting of the famine from the BBC’s Michael Buerk was horrific and incredibly disturbing and, as we looked forward to the release of ‘Last Christmas’, George and I decided to donate our royalties from its release to the same cause. It seemed only right to try to do whatever we could to help. And, now that we were free of the Innervision deal, that help had the potential to be substantial.

Both ‘Last Christmas’ and ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ were being released on the same day. We had become very competitive about Wham!’s chart performance but on this occasion we were just going to have to accept that our song, which had felt like a number 1 record from the day George had first sketched it out, was going to be kept off the top spot, and that was as it should be.

‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ launched like a rocket, selling a million copies in its first week to become the fastest-selling single of all time, then quickly shifting another three million more to become the then biggest-ever UK single. ‘Last Christmas’, backed by the B-side, ‘Everything She Wants’, remained at number 2 in the charts for thirteen weeks. We had achieved the ‘Trivial Pursuit answer’ honour of releasing the biggest-selling single not to get to number 1.

I’d be lying if I said that George and I weren’t a little conflicted about it. Of course we were delighted that Band Aid raised so much money for Ethiopian famine relief, but there was, at the same time, an undertow of disappointment. It was easier for me to reconcile my feelings about the situation, especially as the success of both singles was contributing to the same vital cause, but it was different for George. Chart success was an important affirmation of his self-worth and getting to number 1 had really mattered to him. We were soon making jokes about the perennial bridesmaid status of ‘Last Christmas’, but underneath the gags I knew he was smarting a little.

Happily, a few months later, there was validation of his talent from another source. The prestigious Ivor Novello Awards recognised songwriters and by 1985 Wham! had established enough of a presence to receive nominations in three separate categories. It was an emotional event for both of us. At first there was further disappointment when ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ missed out in the Best Song category to Phil Collins’s ‘Against All Odds’. But ‘Careless Whisper’ then won the award for Most Performed Work – or, in other words, the Song Most Played on the Radio. It was a flattering recognition of the song’s broad appeal, but there was a bigger prize at stake. George was in line for the Songwriter of the Year award and, as the nominees were read out, my mind was set. I had decided that if George didn’t win, I was going to return our Most Performed Work award in protest. There was no doubt in my mind that George deserved it more than any of his rivals.

When he was eventually announced as that year’s winner, it was an incredibly moving moment. The Ivor Novellos were the only music-industry awards that really seemed to matter to George at that time because they were decided by an academy of songwriters, composers and authors – his peers – rather than critics or record company executives. They carried a credibility and weight that George valued and respected. After accepting his award from one of his own heroes, Elton John, George was quite overcome. He found it impossible to hold back the tears during his acceptance speech. Watching him from the audience, it was hard not to follow suit. He’d been embraced by the people he most admired and identified with. The whole world would be next.