Before Fame OR: What not to do when you discover one of the world’s greatest pop duos in a village hall

What would you do if you discovered George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley rehearsing in a village hall before they were famous? Michael Burdett knows because that’s what happened to him when he was a 19-year-old talent scout.  

Michael tried to get the music company he worked for to sign them as part of a ska band called The Executive. That didn’t work out. But what happened next changed pop history forever. 

BEFORE FAME is the remarkable untold backstory of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, before they stormed the charts as Wham! It follows Edinburgh-award-winner Burdett as, 40 years later, he takes the recording they made together round the UK, photographing strangers listening to it.

The result is a quirky, funny and uplifting show that will make you scratch your head at how coincidence shapes destiny. Told with wit, warmth, and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour, it is, in Michael’s words, a show about two musical geniuses and an idiot (spoiler: Michael is the idiot). 

"Funny stories from the man who (almost) managed Wham! A surprisingly poignant celebration.” ★★★★ The Times 

“You HAVE to go and see Before Fame, the story of George and Andrew’s early days. Beautifully told and very funny." ★★★★★ Lucy Porter, comedian

"I loved it, reminiscing about the time before Wham!, and a window on a vanished late 70s and early 80s world." Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph