George Michael & Wham!

George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 - 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, with sales of over 120 million records worldwide. Michael was known as a leading creative force in music production, songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation. He achieved seven number-one songs on the UK Singles Chart and eight number-one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100. Michael won numerous music awards, including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three American Music Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards. In 2015, he was ranked 45th in Billboard's list of the "Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time". The Radio Academy named him the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004.

Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986.
Influenced by funk and soul music and presenting themselves as disaffected youth, Wham!'s 1983 debut album Fantastic addressed the United Kingdom's unemployment problem and teen angst over adulthood. Their second studio album Make It Big in 1984 was a worldwide pop smash hit, charting at number one in both the UK and the United States. Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, the singles from the album - "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Everything She Wants" and "Careless Whisper" - all topped the US Billboard Hot 100. In 1985, Wham! made a highly publicised 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group. The event was seen as a major watershed moment in increasing friendly bilateral relations between China and the West.
In 1986, Wham! broke up. Michael was keen to create music targeted at a more sophisticated adult market rather than the duo's primarily teenage audience. Before going their separate ways, a farewell single "The Edge of Heaven", and a greatest-hits album titled The Final would be forthcoming, along with a farewell concert entitled The Final.