Andrew Ridgeley recalls the last time he saw George Michael before his death

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael’s time as a successful ’80s pop duo may have been relatively short by music industry standards, but their friendship was almost a lifetime.

A new Netflix documentary is out today about their group Wham! and tells the story of how the pair went from teen friends to making history as the first Western pop act to perform in China.

While promoting the film, called “Wham!”, Ridgeley talked to People about his final days with Michael, who died on December 26, 2016, from natural causes at the age of 53.

Ridgeley said he and his friend met up months before Michael’s death and engaged in something that had actually helped draw them together – playing the board game Scrabble.

“He’d beaten me the week before, and I was exacting my revenge,” the singer said of his late friend. “It took us right back to just … the essence of our schoolboy friendship and one-upmanship. It was a game that stimulated him, and me also.”

According to Ridgeley, Michael was a huge fan of the game and they often met up to play together.

The pair are set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, an honor Ridgeley called “a great privilege.” He said he believes Michael would have felt the same because “He was aware of the meaning of accolades from his peers. He would be very rightly proud, and he deserves his place there.

“You know, he is a genuine legend and an icon of contemporary music,” Ridgeley added. “I said so in my tribute to him at the BRITs, that he was a supernova in a firmament of shining lights and stars, and he was probably the finest singing voice and songwriter of his generation. There ain’t too many that held a candle to him.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.