Wham!, George Michael and Me: A Memoir by Andrew Ridgeley released October 2019 was not at all what I was expecting…but in a lot of ways, that’s a good thing!
I’ll let you all in on a little secret as to how I pick some of the books I read – when I see a suggestion for some music related book on Amazon, I’ll click on it to see when it was released. After that, I click on the Kindle version, then click on “See Inside” (above the picture). Usually, there is a search button, so I enter in “Beatles” to see if there is any references to our Fab Four. So before you judge me for reading the story of Wham!, know that “Beatles” was mentioned at least 3 times and Paul McCartney at least once.
If you had asked me to tell you about Wham! before I read this book, I would have gotten the story all wrong. I was in my early 20s when Wham! hit the charts and I was one of the many clubbers dancing to their music. I even have a very distinct memory of sitting at a bar with a friend and watching the video of ‘I Want Your Sex’ playing on a television in the corner. I would have guessed they were just two semi-musically literate, pretty boys from England that were discovered by some A&R person from a record company looking for the next big MTV hit. Not quite…
There was a sudden change in mood in the classroom. Conversations regarding Pan’s People, David Essex and those awkward summer kisses were shushed when our form tutor, Mrs. Parker, entered the room, trailed by a nervous-looking boy. Dressed in a pristine, box-fresh school uniform, he wore a pair of oversized steel-framed specs. His hair, which looked like a dressing-up wig, appeared to have been made from coarse man-made fibre. And the pressure of facing down a room of new classmates had clearly shaken him.
This was Andrew Ridgeley’s first impression of an awkward and chubby, 13 year old Georgios Panayiotou (aka George Michael). On that day, he would volunteer to show the new kid around and meet his lifelong best friend. The two would become inseparable and later become Wham! despites George’s parents best efforts to keep the Andrew away because they felt he was a bad influence on their straight A son who they dreamed of going on to a university.
This book is Andrew Ridgeley’s story of his friendship George Michael and how they created Wham! He respectfully avoids any controversy about George’s sexuality, dating habits or history. He does disclose when George came out to him and his response. Andrew does reference George’s autobiography, Bare, a few times to clear up some varying points of view, but stays true to respecting George’s story and estate.
They were best friends until the end. And for that reason…
I rate this book, 4 out of 4 Beetles!
I took a whole stack of books to read and do research. I even took a book about the Beatles, but instead, I ended up reading 
, but if you’re an avid reader and love true crime or biographies, this book is excellent. 
by Michael Azerrad is another book I got from Harper-Collins over three months ago. The copy I got is an unedited proof and according to the letter I got with it, this book won’t be released until October 18, 2018 (Amazon says the release date is December 15th). I’m not sure why they sent it out so early. I wrote to them in May and asked if it was okay to post a review, but they said they would prefer if I hold off until the month before publication (it is available for pre-order on Amazon). And so, this book has remained on the end table in my living room collecting dust for months and at this point, I just need to move it to the bookshelf. I’m going to defend this early review by saying that this book already has 5 reviews on GoodReads.com!
and 
. Several years ago, he started a Twitter feed under the name 
I love when I unsolicitedly get on a publisher’s mailing list to receive review copies of books.
by Katrina McHugh showed up on my doorstep last week from Harper-Collins. As I was deep into another book, it took a day or two to pick up, but what a fun book it is! This 7.5″ x 7.3″ books is 216 pages of pictorial descriptions of lyrics from popular song from the sixties to present day with the answers on the back of each picture page. And yes, there is a Beatles song and a Lennon song contained in this visual version of Name That Tune.
I’m finally somewhat caught up on my 
I guess I should have paid closer attention to the details of 
Another book from my list of 
by Peter Coviello is a book that wasn’t even close to what I thought it was going to be about when I anxiously volunteered to receive an advanced copy for review from 
Beatles-Freak's Reviews 