The first time I met George Michael he looked like the happiest man in the world. This was June 1983, a blisteringly hot month in a summer which seemed to be dedicated entirely to the celebration of youth. As well as Spandau Ballet’s “Gold”, the Style Council’s “Long Hot Summer” and Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon”, Wham!’s “Club Tropicana” was the soundtrack of the summer that year, a wickedly infectious dance track which – through the lens of Ibiza and Club 18-30 holidays – celebrated the West End nightclub Le Beat Route in Soho’s Dean Street, at which both George and I had been regulars since it opened at the tail end of 1980.
Even though we had shared a dancefloor, I first met him properly at the launch party of Wham!’s debut album Fantastic! Both George and fellow group member Andrew Ridgeley were dressed in white T-shirts, white linen trousers and white espadrilles, and they spent most of the night dancing to their own records, with smiles as blinding as the summer sun.
While their fame grew, George could still occasionally be seen on the dancefloors of London’s coolest clubs, his favourite being The Wag Club, where the famous could blend in with average punters without being hassled. While he loved American dance tracks by the likes of The Gap Band and Shalamar, he seemed happiest dancing to his own music, not least Wham!’s greatest song, “Everything She Wants”.
