Background
By 1986, George Michael had spent five years as lead singer of the popular duo Wham! and had grown tired of accusations that the group, which featured best friend Andrew Ridgeley, was nothing more than a teenybopper group despite the serious subject matter that was included on albums such as Fantastic and Make It Big. After the success of Make It Big and its subsequent follow-up, Music from the Edge of Heaven, Michael had grown weary of continuing the group and expressed the desire to split up the group to Ridgeley. A decision was made that the group would split following the end of a tenure at Wembley Stadium for what was titled Wham: The Final. Following the split, Michael began to work on songs that eventually would make his first solo project, which would be titled Faith.
Throughout the promotion of Music from the Edge of Heaven, Michael had recorded songs without Ridgeley. One song, in particular, "A Different Corner", was released as a George Michael solo track rather than with Wham!, as had a previous single, "Careless Whisper", which was Michael's first solo single (it was billed as Wham! featuring George Michael in America), in 1984. Following the group's split, Michael performed "A Different Corner" on his own. Michael also worked as a collaborator on other musicians' projects, including Elton John, singing background for Elton's 1986 hit, "Wrap Her Up". While recording his first solo album, Michael was asked by producer Narada Michael Walden to contribute duet vocals for Aretha Franklin's single, "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me". The song was released as a single on Franklin's Aretha, and entered number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1987 giving Michael confidence that he could have a career of his own without Wham!.
Read more about this topic: Faith (George Michael album)
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