“Last Christmas” is undoubtedly one of the most -or maybe the most- popular Christmas song, that was first sang by the Wham!.
Let’s find out more about it!
- Last Christmas” is a song by English pop duo Wham!.
- It was released on Epic Records, and internationally on MCA Records in December 1984, on a double A-side with “Everything She Wants”.
- It was written and produced by George Michael.
- It has been covered by many artists since its original release.
- On YouTube you can even find a cover or two created by… cats!
- The song reached No. 1 in Denmark, Slovenia, and Sweden.
- Also, it reached No. 2 in nine countries: Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, New Zealand and United Kingdom.
- Wham! donated all of their royalties to relief efforts for the Ethiopian famine.
- In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted eighth on the ITV television special The Nation’s Favourite Christmas Song.
- It was the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK.
- It was overtaken by “Fairytale of New York” in 2015!
- “Last Christmas” had its beginnings in 1984, while George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were visiting Michael’s parents.
- Despite “Last Christmas” is -obviously- a Christmas song, it was written on AUgust.
- It was written by Michael in his childhood bedroom.
- Michael played Ridgeley the introduction and chorus melody to “Last Christmas”, which Ridgeley later called “a moment of wonder”.
- The video to “Last Christmas” was directed by Andrew Morahan.
- It shows Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at an unspecified ski resort cottage: the cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where the video was filmed.
- It becomes clear early on that the character of Ridgeley’s girlfriend (played by model Kathy Hill) was previously in a relationship with Michael and that the song is aimed at her.
- She can be spotted throughout the video by the fact that she is usually wearing red, but everyone else is wearing more muted colors.
- The video also featured the duo’s erstwhile backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie and Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp.
- Martin Kemp was in a relationship with Shirlie at the time, and subsequently married her.
- As of December 2020, the original music video has received over 550 million views on the official Wham! YouTube channel.
- It has since been restored to 4K definition.
- The second official music video “Last Christmas (Pudding Mix)” on Wham!’s official channel has 35 million views (as of 11 December 2020).
- The music video, originally shot on movie film, was released on 13 December 2019 in 4K Ultra HD resolution and has over 21 million views (as of 11 December 2020).
- The music video’s original film director Andy Morahan found the original 35mm rushes and worked closely with teams at Cinelab London and VFX artist Russ Shaw at Nice Biscuits post production to recreate the video using the higher-resolution film.
- In the mid-1980s, the publishing company Dick James Music sued George Michael on behalf of the writers of “Can’t Smile Without You,” a schmaltzy love song recorded by The Carpenters and Barry Manilow, among others.
- According to Chris Porter, the recording engineer on “Last Christmas,” the suit was dismissed after a musicologist presented 60-plus songs that have a similar chord progression and melody.
- November 2019 saw the release of Paul Feig’s Last Christmas, a romantic comedy inspired by the song starring Emilia Clarke. Producer David Livingstone came up with the idea while George Michael was still alive, and when he pitched the pop star on the project, he was given the greenlight—with one condition: Michael stipulated that actress and author Emma Thompson write the movie.
- Thompson co-authored the story and the screenplay, and she even wound up playing a supporting role.
