Great quote from George Michael’s former manager Rob Kahane from the article George Michael is Looking for Respect (Detroit Free Press, 1988)
“I do look at some of the old stuff and wonder who the hell that is,” Michael says. “I feel that a lot of the music I wrote then was overlooked simply because people found (the image) so repugnant. They couldn’t actually see what was going on underneath it.”
Even Ridgeley who’s racing cars in Monaco and contemplating his own solo career admits that “Wham! was very much an artificial image. George’s image (now) is a lot closer to what he is as a person.”
Rob Kahane felt the same way. He was Wham!’s agent for its 1985 stadium tour of America, but left that job to co-manage Michael’s solo career with partner Michael Lippman. “He’s got this sixth sense; that’s what attracted me,” says Kahane, sitting cross-legged in his suite at the same hotel. “It’s not just being able to write a great song or sing really well or looking good in a video. It’s knowing where you want to go, what you want to be. That’s the mark of a superstar.”
Michael’s journey from teen idol was gradual, however. It started with “A Different Corner,” a wrenching lost-love ballad from the final Wham! album inspired by Michael’s break-up with a girlfriend. “I had done ‘Careless Whisper, but that didn’t really come from any heart-wrenching experience,” Michael explains. “A Different Corner” “was written from strong experience, which is what I think makes the song more than just a nice ballad on the radio.”