→ For 40 years, George Michael’s Last Christmas was the bridesmaid. The nearly-but-never-quite. The most successful single never to reach number one, it was pop’s great injustice. And then the spell b

“It was a dull, boring Sunday in 1984 and we were just passing the time,” Andrew Ridgeley recalls of the day Wham! bandmate George Michael wrote Last Christmas. While Andrew watched football on the TV

13 DECEMBER SATURDAY

“Merry Xmas, Everybody” No.1, 1973 Slade’s chart-topper was recorded in New York while the band toured the world. Flamboyant guitarist, Dave Hill – remembered for his trademark high-heel boots and dis

“Yeah, he loved the whole thing,” says his bandmate, Queen drummer Roger Taylor. “You know, the house would have been full of all these decorations. He loved his decorations. And he had a great, unerr

It looked like a bleak Christmas for all – until Becky had a bright idea