Wham!, “Last Christmas”: the covers
The original version of “Last Christmas” of the Wham arrived in record stores on December 15, 1984, in a double-A-side 45 rpm single which also contained “Everything She Wants”. The single, however, failed to reach the top of the English charts, which was dominated by “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” of the supergroup Band Aid and it will stop at position number two.
For many years the song held a curious record: it was the best-selling song not to have reached the top of the official singles chart in Great Britain. It will only reach first place on January 3, 2021, 36 years after its original release, thus achieving a new record: it is the single that took the longest to reach the top of the UK Singles Chart after its first release.
“Last Christmas” it reached number one in Italy, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark, while in Germany it is the best-selling Christmas song of all time (with, to date, 161 weeks of presence in the official chart). In the United States the song was released as a single only in 2014 on the occasion of Record Store Day.
“Last Christmas” was entirely written, played and produced by George Michael. In other words, the contribution to the piece of Andrew Ridgeley was to appear in the cover photo and in the famous video shot in Saas-Fee, a Swiss ski resort. The lyrics of the song do not contain explicit references to Christmas: in reality it was intended by Michael to be released on the occasion of Easter 1985 and the provisional title was “Last Easter” (“Last Easter”). It was the record company that insisted that the album be released for Christmas and so the title was changed.
Maurilio Giordana (blog owner “MyWay”)
Taylor Swift: The new queen of pop released her version of “Last Christmas” in 2007 on the EP “The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection”.
Mina: jazz cover published by Mina in 2015. Accompanying the Tigre di Cremona are: Danilo Rea on piano, Massimo Moriconi (double bass) Alfredo Golino (drums) Giorgio Secco (guitar) Ugo Bongianni (keyboards) and his son Massimiliano Pani on backing vocals.
Ariana Grande: in 2013 the song returned to the charts in the version of the young American star.
One of the most surprising versions of the song is that of the Welsh Manic Street Preachers. A live cover, guitar and vocals published in 2003 on a bonus disc distributed with the first copies of the “Lipstick Traces” collection.
Carole King: the great New York singer-songwriter also sang her “Last Christmas”. The cover appears on his 2011 Christmas album.
Carly Rae Jepsen: the Canadian singer-songwriter’s version published in 2015 stands out for the presence of some ideas of originality in the arrangement.
Gwen Stefani: cover released in 2017 on the album “You Make It Feel Like Christmas”.
Puppini Sisters: the version by the London vocal trio is also notable for its originality, jazz arrangement and interesting vocal harmonizations. The cover appears on their 2010 Christmas album.
Good Charlotte: Punks celebrate Christmas too. Twin band Madden released their version of the Wham classic in 2017.
Backstreet Boys: in 2022 “Last Christmas” returns to the charts in the USA thanks to the Backstreet Boys who include a cover of the song in the album “A Very Backstreet Christmas”. Their version remained at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary for five weeks.
In 2024, Rosè, the singer of Blackpink, also wanted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Last Chrismas” with a cover performed during the BBC Live Lounge broadcast by Radio 1.
Finally, a curiosity. In 2017 Francesco Gabbani paid homage to “Last Christmas” by re-proposing the video of the song for “La mia versione dei memoria”. Gabbani plays George Michael, his brother Filippo plays Andrew Ridgeley.
