One half of the 1980’s singing sensation and heart throb to millions of teens with his bright smile, black leather jacket and ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ persona in the duo George Michael, WHAM!

Andrew Ridgley was born in Windlesham in Surrey on January 26^th 1963 but was raised from an early age in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England, where from an early age he showed an interest in music which eventually led him to team up with George Michael.

The two young men, with a passion to enter the music industry, created a tape in Andrew’s parent’s home in the space of ten minutes and proceeded to tout it around any record label who would listen to their musical efforts.

Eventually Andrew and George found a record label willing to take a chance on the ambitious newcomers, Innervision, and so the band was established.

During the WHAM! years Andrew took more and more of a back seat with George being the more talented of the pair but still he enjoyed the success that was theirs from 1982 through 1986.

It was in those years that Andrew and George made their American debut on the Dick Clark American Bandstand show. Worldwide fame followed with tours of Europe, the USA, Japan and Russia.

But for Andrew the mad world of celebrity came to a fairly abrupt end when in 1986 George made the decision to go solo leaving Andrew to attempt a career in Formula Three motor racing. He moved to Monaco where he crashed several cars and never managed to attract any sponsors

With little success in on the race track Andrew moved to Los Angeles in an effort to revive his musical and acting career but with little acknowledgement in the USA he returned to England in 1990.

Returning to the UK Andrew made use of the clause in his and George’s original contract with CBS Records that gave him the option to record a solo album. His first album was a drum and guitar based attempt at stardom entitled, Son of Albert.

With his brother playing drums on his album the pair had two minor hits with singles from the album Shake and Red Dress. Seeing little return on their investment CBS decided not to release a second album.

Andrew took this opportunity to retire from the public face of music but continued to remain active behind the scenes composing and song writing under various pseudonyms.

Ridgeley turned his attention to more sporting activities in the early 1990’s and began surfing.

Although he loved the sport he had chosen to pursue it took its toll on him when both he and his brother, Paul, were surfing off the coast of England and both of them contracted a waterborne illness from the raw sewage being discharged from a nearby pipe.

Following his recovery from the illness Andrew became environmentally conscious of the beaches and river ways in and around the English coast line and began working with the UK charity Surfers Against Sewage.(SAS)

Coupling his passion for surfing with business Andrew found himself a partner with whom he began a company making surfing equipment. He still continued his work with environmental charities and frequently gave his name to fundraising and donating money to help pass laws to secure clean rivers and waterways. His efforts, along with SAS, have all but eliminated E. coli illness and deaths in the UK.

Andrew went on to marry his long time partner, Keren Woodward, formerly of the all girl pop group Bananarama and the couple now live in a 15^th century restored property in Cornwall, England where Andrew now owns a bar called Bar 92.

Andrew and Keren have one son named Thomas.

ABB