Wham! The French Connection (No. 1 Magazine, 1984)

The article “Wham! The French Connection was published in the September 8, 1984 issue of No. 1 magazine.

And now the second winner in our Journey To The Stars series of competitions! (Fanfares, etc.). Two weeks ago it was Julie Siddail and Spandau Ballet. This week it’s Debbie Jones and Wham!

Twenty-one-year old Debbie lives in Brighton and works at a car showroom. In the evening she’s sometimes an usherette at the Brighton Conference Center. She spent a weekend at a fairytale French chateau watching Wham record their next album, and having her every move painstakingly recorded for posterity by Paul Bursche and photographer Chris Craymer.

Brignole

Brignole, a small provincial town, lies just inland from the glittering French southern coast. The countryside around it boasts acres and acres of prime vineyards. It’s the second most important wine-growing area in France.

With vineyards come chateaux. The Chateau Minerval is one of the largest in the area and it’s also a recording studio. In the past Pink Floyd, Yes and Duran Duran have worked here. Shortly The Thompson Twins will be starting a four-month residency. But at the moment Wham are ruling the roost as they cut their second LP.

London Calling

“My friends at work still don’t believe me yet,” says Debbie as we drive toward the chateau. “I’ve got to get loads of photographs to prove it!”

Debbie, photographer Chris Craymer and I have been traveling since early this morning. At seven o’clock a CBS record company car picked up Debbie from her home in Brighton and took her to Heathrow Airport to meet us. From there we took an Air France 757 to Marseilles, where Chris hired a car.

After a delightful detour through Marseilles city centre (You mean you got lost! Ed), we were soon out on the motorway speeding towards Brignole. As dusk begins to creep into the surrounding valley we pull up to the studio. The gentle sound of a piano floats out of the big windows. Going inside, we find George Michael playing it.

Fantastic

Greetings are exchanged. I introduce Debbie and George and they nervously shake hands. But where is Andrew?

“He’s in bed,” groans George. “He caught the bug that’s been going around,” he winks meaningfully. “And I also think he was out drinking late last night. We’ll get him up later. Would you like to listen to the tracks we’ve done so far for the LP?”

George takes us into the studio’s futuristic mixing room and loads a tape up.

“This is gonna be out next single,” he says. “It’s called ‘Freedom’. It’s about a situation where a girl tells her boyfriend that she doesn’t mind him fooling around with other people, because ahe’s going to. But the boy only wants her.”

“It’s written from experience?” asks Debbie.

George smiles. “Sort of.”

Then he turns it on… and when it’s finished looks round for our verdict.

“Brilliant,” reckons Debbie.

Careless Careless Whisper

The rest of the material sounds equally strong and we all agree that when the “Making It Big” LP comes out it’ll knock “Fantastic” out of sight.

George is as pleased as punch and starts delving into the tape cupboard.

“You’ll like this,” he says suddenly. “One night when I went to bed all the crew stayed up and recorded this. It’s a ‘Working Man’s CLub’ version of ‘Careless Whisper’.” He plays it, and it’s hilarious. It may very well find itself on the back of Wham’s next 12-inch.

Waking Up

Eventually we troop back into the living area. Andrew has finally woken up and when we see him we get a real shock. George’s suntan is impressive enough, but Andy’s is stupendous!

“Hmm, he’s still looking a bit pale,” says George, then scurries off to find his sister. Andrew gives Debbie a welcome kiss and they both flop down amongst the cushions on the sofa to watch a bit of French TV. Wham have been doing a lot of that in their five-week stay, and now they’re a little bit bored.

“Wham are The Thompson Twins going to do here for four months?” wonders Andrew.

Dinner is served, during which Debbie meets George’s sister Yod and the rest of the crew. After a couple of hours of gossiping it’s time to head back to our hotel in Brignole.

“See you tomorrow, bright and early,” yells Andrew as we leave.

Rain or Shine

Dutifully early the next day, we go back up to the studio only to find that Andrew is still in bed! George has made an early start in the studio because he has a problem as the group’s producer.
One of the studio speakers has been malfunctioning and giving out the wrong sound. George may have been mixing everything to fit in with this false representation.

We spend worried couple of hours as George and his engineer try to solve the problem. Eventually they decide that a specialist will have to fly out from England.

By this time Andrew has staggered in, so we nip out to do some photos. The moment we step outside the chateaux it starts pouring with rain!

Wham Plans

After shooting a few snaps we dash inside an old barn for shelter. George asks Chris to take some suitably moody pics, and while he does so the boys tell Debbie about some of their plans for the year.

First there’s the new single and LP, then at Christmas they hope to release a 15-minute video to go with their X-mas single. They’ll also be playing some dates at Wembley Arena around Christmas and they’ll be having them filmed.

Debbie tells them about the time she saw the “Fantastic” tour and we discuss various bands and concerts for a while. We’re all a bit concerned when we find out that Debbie likes a lot of heavy metal acts. She waits for George to slag them off.

“I’m fed up with all the slagging that goes on,” he says. “I mean, people make out there’s a war between us, Culture Club and Duran Duran but we don’t think there is. Duran will have a new single out soon which is bound to go high in the charts. Well, I hope it’s really good!”

Driving and Dinner

When we get back to the chateau, Derek Warwick the Formula One racing driver is there. He’s on holiday nearby, and he’s come to be shown around the studio by the owner Jacques Lucier a famous French jazz pianist.

Andrew engages Derek in a long chat about driving. That’s maybe when he gets the idea that we all drive to Brignole for dinner.

Debbie, George and Andrew shoot off through the rain in one car while Chris and I vainly attempt to keep up in another. Andrew stops outside what he and George consider the only decent restaurant in town, and a slightly shaken Debbie and George stagger out.

“What a maniac,” mutters George.

Unfortunately the restaurant is fully booked so we end up in a cheap and cheerless little place down the road. Debbie has all the luck. Hers was the only food that tasted anything like it ought to. She gives George a little nibble of her veal and from the look on his face she’s lucky to have the rest of it to herself.

We spend a happy evening despite all the odds before the two boys see us back to our hotel.

Good Bye

Debbie is surprised to find herself being interviewed over brekkers the next morning, by a journalist from the Mail On Sunday who has just arrived to write a feature on Wham.

We then go for one last visit to the studio. After being roused from their beds, the boys rustle up a couple of bottles of the Chateau Minerval’s very own wine for Debbie to have as a keepsake.

“I hope you never forget this weekend, “writes George on one.

“… Nor the other,” writes Andrew on the other.

Then, after jostling to see who kisses Debbie first, the lads bid us farawell, promising Debbie an early copy of the finished LP.

Bad Boys?

After spending a couple of days in seclusion with the boys, Debbie is in a better position than most to make a judgement about them…

“They are both really charming,” she says. “George is the one who is definitely in control, but I don’t think he’d do anything without Andrew agreeing. They weren’t like I expected at all. They’re really down-to-earth and nice. George seems a little shy when you first meet him. But Andrew’s fun from the first second. They’re lovely!”

Thanks Wham!