Life after Wham! How Andrew Ridgeley enjoyed success following this year’s hit Netflix documentary – and ‘no longer aspires to be monogamous’ – while Pepsi and Shirlie have come out with tell-all memoir

Wham! fans rejoiced when the band’s iconic hit Last Christmas made history by finally reaching Christmas number one on Friday.

The pop group – comprised of the late George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley – released the festive tune in 1984 but it had never managed to achieve the coveted top spot over the Yuletide period until yesterday.

Upon receiving the news, Andrew, 60, remarked that he and his bandmate  – whom he nicknamed Yog – had always measured their success in the band by chart positions and how it had been such a ‘disappointment’ to them both when it stalled at number two. 

He told Official Charts: ‘George would be beside himself after all of these years to finally obtain. 

‘Yog and I perceived music largely in the sense of the Official Charts.

‘We always contextualised our success by our chart success.’

George was only 53 when he died on Christmas Day in 2016. 

At the 2017 Brit Awards an emotional trio made their first appearance on stage together in 31 years, tragically missing one member of their close knit group.

The members of Wham! – vocalist Andrew and backing dancers Pepsi and Shirlie – paid an emotional tribute to the late pop icon.

And while members of the group have since gone in different directions, it’s clear that a strong bond remains.

Andrew has in recent years come out with an autobiography on his days in the band, and was behind a highly successful Netflix documentary for Wham!’s 40th anniversary.

The keen cyclist has also recently revealed he is in ‘several’ relationships and no longer ‘aspires’ to be monogamous – after splitting from millionaire Amanda Cronin.

Meanwhile, Shirlie and Pepsi have also recently reunited to write a memoir, titled It’s All in Black and White.

Here, FEMAIL looks at what the hit pop group’s members have been up to all these years… 

ANDREW RIDGELEY

Over the past two decades, Andrew has largely been keen to shun the limelight, after his attempts at forging various new careers came to nothing after Wham! disbanded. 

Shortly after the band split, he briefly moved to Monaco to pursue a career in Formula Three motor racing before trying his hand as an actor in LA. 

He moved back to the UK permanently in 1990 and released a solo album Son of Albert, which was both a critical and commercial failure. 

However, in the same year his personal life took a turn for the better when he started dating his long-term friend – Bananarama’s Keren Woodward. 

In 1991 he joined George on stage for his encore at the Rock in Rio event at the Maracanã Stadium in Brazil, marking a distinct end to his public appearances. 

Since then he had largely shunned the limelight, quitting London for good in 1994 to move to a 15th century Cornish farm house with Woodward and her son Tom. 

Despite his lack of commercial success, Andrew has been able to live comfortably thanks to the royalties from Careless Whisper, which he co-wrote with George Michael, earning a reported £10 million since 1982.

While Andrew has in past been hesitant to surface – most often doing so to campaign for environmental causes and in particular safer, cleaner water – he has in past years been more public.

In 2019, he came out with an autobiography – titled George & Me.

In it, he detailed George’s struggles to keep up the pretence he was straight during his Wham! heyday.

Andrew knew Michael was gay in 1983 when the pair were shooting Club Tropicana, but it was 15 years before he came out publicly.

He revealed how Michael kept up the ‘facade’ for fear that going public could damage his career and chance of competing with stars such as Michael Jackson.

Despite their close bond, Andrew also admits in the book that he was sometimes ‘envious’ of Michael.

He writes that, while he was ‘amazed’ by his friend’s ‘prodigious talent’, it ‘would have been fabulous to have some of that stardust sprinkled upon me’. 

Earlier this year, Andrew was also behind a hugely successful Wham! Netflix documentary to mark their 40th anniversary, that left fans with ‘goosebumps’.

It featured a wealth of unseen material.

One of its producers, Simon Halfon, says his team spent over two years digging for footage and audio, and as a friend of both men Simon had a good idea where to look. 

Andrew’s love life has faced exciting twists and turns too, following his separation from Keren in 2017 – after 27 years together.

A few months ago, the star revealed he is involved in ‘several’ relationships and no longer ‘aspires’ to be monogamous.

The former singer has also recently split from socialite Amanda Cronin in May.

Andrew confirmed he is ‘happily single’ but added that he is dating multiple people, though he said he wanted to keep their identities private.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Andrew said: ‘I like to protect the privacy of the women that I’m romantically linked with, or have a romantic interest with.

‘It would be something that one would have to mutually agree if one were to make it public.’

When asked if he is currently in a relationship, he replied: ‘No. I have several [romantic] relationships.’

He continued that he does not want to commit to a single person currently because his lifestyle makes it too difficult to maintain. 

Andrew said: ‘Love comes in a variety of forms. I had a long-term relationship with Keren for many years, and we still have a great affection for each other.

‘But at this point in time, I’m not aspiring to a monogamous one, or to commit to a single person for the foreseeable future.

‘The way my life is makes it a bit tricky to hold down any one particular relationship, because I’m not in any one particular place. But yes, I am happily single.’

His ex-girlfriend Amanda previously suggested she had split from Andrew because of their differing views on monogamy and explained she wanted her next partner to be someone she shared values with.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘I’m looking for a monogamous relationship. When the next Mr Right comes along, he will have the same set of values that I have. 

‘I’m quite traditional, a sweet, country girl. I’m also discerning and want to be around other people who understand what that means.’ 

Andrew is also a keen cyclist and often shares social media posts about his latest treks.

SHIRLIE KEMP

Along with Pepsi DeMacque, Shirlie – now 61 – was a backing singer and dancer for Wham! at the height of their fame. 

After Wham! ended, they formed a duo Pepsi and Shirlie and had two UK top ten hits with Heartache and Goodbye Stranger.  

They also provided backing vocals on Geri Haliwell’s 200 number one Bag It Up.

As well as giving the singers a platform for fame, their time in Wham! led to Shirlie meeting her husband Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp and as their son Roman revealed, forced George to call her.  

‘I remember the first date that Shirlie and I ever went on,’ Martin told Piers Morgan on his show Life Stories. ‘George came as a chaperone. I spent the whole evening trying to lose him so that me and Shirlie could sneak off somewhere and snog.

The couple married in 1988 and went on to have a daughter Harley Moon and a son Roman, George’s godson. 

In 1995 Martin was diagnosed with two brain tumours and Shirlie took time out from her career to look after him, and ended up being declared bankrupt. 

She took on a part-time role with George Michael’s record label Aegean, run by his cousin Andros Georgiou.

The venture ultimately failed, but Shirlie has forged a new career for herself as a photographer and interiors stylist. 

She specialised in vintage style table adornments and whimsical style photographic portraits.  

Shirlie is also a patron of the bereavement charity the Good Grief Trust.

George remained ‘like a brother’ to her and she, Martin and Roman were due to spend Boxing Day with the singer before his tragic death.

In 2019, she and Martin released their first album together, which largely contained jazz covers.

The following year, the love released an autobiography and relationship advice book titled ‘Shirlie and Martin Kemp: It’s a Love Story’.

In 2021 Shirlie also featured in her son’s highly regarded mental health documentary, Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency.

Earlier this year, she and Martin featured on the fourth series of The Masked Singer. 

HELEN ‘PEPSI’ DEMACQUE 

As well as performing as one part of Pepsi and Shirlie, Helen, 65, collaborated with Mike Oldfield in the late ’90s, performing on his Then & Now tour and at the premiere of Tubular Bells III.

She also dabbled with acting, appearing in the musical Hair at London’s Old Vic Theatre in 1993. 

She then quit the showbiz scene and moved to New Zealand where she worked in a gift shop in Lambton Quay.

The singer has since settled in St Lucia, where her family originally hails from and runs a charter sailing company with her husband James. 

In addition to running tours for holidaymakers, their company offers a summer training programme for students from the National Skills Development Centre, which helps get young people into work and teaches them life skills. 

‘My life in the Caribbean is very different to London life but just as exciting,’ she says. 

‘I’m discovering and enjoying new ways of being. Loving sunsets, food, people, landscapes and lots more.’

On Twitter she also describes herself as a singer, actress, writer, traveller ‘and beyond’ – and her Instagram bio promises a debut novel in 2024.

It is understood that Helen practices Buddhism.  

In 2021, the pair came out with a book called It’s All in Black and White.

Explaining the title, on Loose Women last year, Shirlie said: ‘Whenever I was younger, people would always say “you always see things in black and white” that meant I could see things clearly or I didn’t.

‘But then, a black girl and a white girl, you can take it that way.

‘It never meant anything to us, we were just friends.’