"It's not a huge thing, I'm taking a punt. "I'm going to offer Wham! a deal with my new label Innervision," Dean said. In February 1982, Dean met with Michael and Ridgeley and offered them a recording deal. Ridgeley would frequently run into Mark Dean from Innervision Records at The Three Crowns in Hertfordshire, and hand him the band's demo tape. Ridgeley and Michael worked persistently to get their feet in the door with recording executives. Ridgeley explained that the name originated from a need for "something that captured the essence of what set us apart-our energy and our friendship-and then it came to us: Wham! Wham! was snappy, immediate, fun and boisterous too." British graphic design studio Stylorouge was credited with adding the exclamation mark to the name of the band. When this group split, Michael and Andrew Ridgeley eventually formed Wham! The two at first performed in a short-lived ska band called The Executive, alongside former school friends David (Austin) Mortimer, Andrew Leaver, Tony Bywaters, Harry Tadayon and Paul Ridgeley. Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads School in Bushey near the town of Watford in Hertfordshire. Before going their separate ways, a farewell single " The Edge of Heaven", and a greatest-hits album titled The Final would be forthcoming, along with a farewell concert entitled The Final. Michael was keen to create music targeted at a more sophisticated adult market rather than the duo's primarily teenage audience. The event was seen as a major watershed moment in increasing friendly bilateral relations between China and the West. In 1985, Wham! made a highly publicised 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group. Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, the singles from the album-" Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", " Everything She Wants" and " Careless Whisper"-all topped the US Billboard Hot 100. Their second studio album Make It Big in 1984 was a worldwide pop smash hit, charting at number one in both the UK and the United States. Influenced by funk and soul music and presenting themselves as disaffected youth, Wham!'s 1983 debut album Fantastic addressed the United Kingdom's unemployment problem and teen angst over adulthood. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981.
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