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How George Michael 'discovered gold'
George Michael not only sang on the Band Aid single, but also donated the royalties from Last Christmas to the same cause. There is something inherently mercenary about a Christmas song — a successful one can sustain a musician for a lifetime, and Wham! But despite appearing like a sickly sweet and cynical chart commodity, in reality Last Christmas was practically a DIY production. Earlier that year, Michael had wrested control of Wham! He had also started building himself up as a serious creative force from less-than-serious foundations. The year-old wrote, produced, performed and painstakingly played every single instrument on the track. Porter had begun working with the duo on their debut single Wham Rap! Booked into a studio in Paris, they found themselves recording Everything She Wants with no band and no producer. Later, on Last Christmas, what had been accidental became deliberate.
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The festive classic was streamed 9. He said he was "delighted" and "profoundly pleased" at the news, "albeit 36 years after its first release which is, perhaps more than anything, a testament to its timeless appeal and charm". Fans had previously launched a campaign to get it to number one in , to mark the first anniversary of George Michael's untimely death on Christmas Day Its lyrics also inspired Dame Emma Thompson to write the movie Last Christmas, which was released in cinemas last Christmas. Last Christmas was written by George Michael in his childhood bedroom in February , "and as far as I was concerned it was a number one", he told Smash Hits in Inspiration struck out of the blue, while the singer was watching a football match at his parents' house in Hertfordshire. It was a moment of wonder.
Described as a "high watermark of mids British synthpop songcraft", [4] it was written and produced by George Michael , and has been covered by many artists since its original release. After many chart runs in subsequent years, which has seen the recording become part of RCA Records' catalogue, the song finally reached number-one in the UK Singles Chart on New Year's Day chart week ending date 7 January , more than 36 years after its initial release. Prior to it reaching number one, "Last Christmas" had for many years held the record as the highest-selling single never to top the charts by the Official Charts Company OCC with 1. Outside the United Kingdom, the song topped the charts in Denmark, Slovenia, and Sweden and peaked within the top ten of the charts in several countries including Australia, Germany, Ireland, and the United States. It was written by Michael in his childhood bedroom. George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on the track. With a LinnDrum drum machine, a Roland Juno synth and sleigh bells, they began recording the song in the summer, Michael having "plastered [the studio] in Christmas decorations to set the mood".
