Andrew Ridgeley is writing a book about his friendship with the late George Michael.
The 56-year-old singer met the ‘Careless Whisper’ hitmaker – who died in December 2016 – at school and they went on to form Wham! in 1981, achieving huge stardom in 1984 but going their separate ways in 1986, and now the usually-private star is to release a tell-all tome about that period in his life.
Penguin Random House imprint Dutton will publish ‘Wham! George & Me’ in October and have promised Andrew will reveal all in "wonderful detail".
The publishers said in a statement: "They made and broke iconic records, they were treated like gods, but they stayed true to their friendship and ultimately to themselves.
"It was a party that seemed as if it would never end. And then it did, in front of tens of thousands of tearful fans at Wembley Stadium in 1986.
"Andrew’s memoir covers in wonderful detail those years, up until that last iconic concert: the scrapes, the laughs, the relationships, the good and the bad. It’s a unique and one-and-only time to remember that era, that band and those boys."
After Wham! went their separate ways, George was a hugely successful solo artist, while Andrew released one album, ‘Son of Albert’, which was panned by critics and pursued careers in acting and car racing instead.
Andrew previously admitted he cried like he had "never cried before" after George died.
He said: "When I received the news of my oldest friend’s death on the afternoon of Christmas Day last year, I had, only five minutes beforehand, sent him a message wishing him a wonderful Christmas.
"That night, after I had phoned our friends to convey the dreadful news – and despite having shed an ocean of tears already that day – the sheer eviscerating sense of loss cut my legs from beneath me and I cried like I’d never cried before."
And Andrew admitted his friend’s death, which was attributed to natural causes related to a heart condition and fatty liver, was even harder to cope with than the passing of his parents because it was so unexpected.
He said: "Nothing had prepared me for the depth of pain George’s death precipitated.
"The shock and disbelief were overwhelming. I had lost my parents in recent years and yet, this was entirely different, a loss I had not contemplated, a loss that was inconceivable, one so abysmally sad that in that moment I was consumed by it."
Andrew Ridgeley to publish memoir
