Yahoo News Wham's Andrew Ridgeley recalls last memory of George Michael
Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley has opened up about the last time he saw George Michael before his untimely death in 2016.
Ridgeley and Michael were best friends and musicians who made up pop duo Wham! in the 1980s. The two achieved global success and stardom, with four Number One hits and sell-out stadium tours, as captured in new Netflix documentary Wham!.
The pair parted ways in 1986, with Michael going on to forge a successful solo career. However, they remained life-long friends and stayed in contact up until Micheal's death, who passed away aged 53, on Christmas Day 2016.
In an interview with People magazine, Ridgeley recalled his last memory of the pop star and what they got up to in their final meeting.
Related: What Netflix's Wham! documentary left out about George Michael
The Wham! star said the two were battling it out "over the Scrabble board", revealing how Michael "was a big fan [of the board game] and we'd have regular games of Scrabble."
"He'd beaten me the week before, and I was exacting my revenge," Ridgeley explains. "It took us right back to just ... the essence of our schoolboy friendship and one-upmanship. It was a game that stimulated him, and me also."
The musician went on to clarify that the last time they met up "was a few months prior to his passing."
Related: Netflix's Wham! documentary debuts with impressive Rotten Tomatoes score
In a separate interview with Big Issue, Ridgeley admitted how he'd wish he could play the board game with the late star one more time.
"I’d love to just have a sit-down lunch again, to chat and play scrabble with Yog," he said, referring to Michael by the nickname that he gave him during childhood.
As the documentary reveals, Ridgeley and Michael were inseparable from their first meeting as 12-year-olds up until Wham! ended in the late eighties.
Though his relationship with Michael changed post-Wham, Ridgeley maintains a great deal of pride and love for his friend.
He told the New York Times that to this day he still considers Michael to be "one of the finest, if not the finest, singing voices of his generation".
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