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This page is about the robots nicknamed “Elektro”. For the electronic music genres, see electro-industrial and electro music. For the Marvel Comics character, see Elektro (comics). For the Dan Dare robots, see Elektrobot.
Elektro is the nickname of a robot built by the Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Corporation in its Mansfield, Ohio facility between 1937 and 1938. Seven feet tall, weighing 265 pounds, humanoid in appearance, he could walk by voice command, speak about 700 words (using a 78-rpm record player), smoke cigarettes, blow up balloons, and move his head and arms. Elektro’s body consisted of a steel gear, cam and motor skeleton covered by an aluminum skin. His photoelectric “eyes” could distinguish red and green light. He was on exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s Fair and reappeared at that fair in 1940, with “Sparko”, a robot dog that could bark, sit, and beg.
Elektro toured North America in 1950 in promotional appearances for Westinghouse, and was displayed at Pacific Ocean Park in Venice, California in the late fifties and early sixties. He also appeared as “Thinko”, in a 1960 film, Sex Kittens Go to College, which starred Mamie Van Doren and Tuesday Weld. In the 1960s, his head was given to a retiring Westinghouse engineer and his body was sold for scrap.[citation needed]
In 1992, the dance band Meat Beat Manifesto produced the song “Original Control (Version 2)” which prominently featured snippets of Elektro’s monologues, quoting lines such as “I am Elektro” and “My brain is bigger than yours”.
Elektro survived the scrap pile and is being restored by Jack Weeks. It is currently the property of the Mansfield Memorial Museum. External links
Photo and document gallery from a former Westinghouse employee
Elektro commentary
Free Times article
You-Tube Video footage of Elektro at the 1939 World’s Fair
The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair (1939) Shows entire Elektro demo starting at 34 minutes into movie. See also
Electro (disambiguation)
This robotics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Folk song
The lyrics are largely biographical containing a number of details from Jesse James’ life, portraying him as an American version of Robin Hood, though there is no evidence to indicate that he actually “stole from the rich and gave to the poor”.
“But that dirty little coward / That shot Mr. Howard / Has laid poor Jesse in his grave.” Robert Ford, who killed Jesse, was James’ gang member. Mr. Howard was the alias that James lived under in Saint Joseph, Missouri at the time of his killing. Frank and Jesse James did not rob the Glendale train and James was shot dusting a picture, not hanging it up on the wall.[citation needed]
The folk song “Jesse James” was recorded in 1924 by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, and subsequently by many artists, including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, The Pogues, Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen on his 2006 album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, and it is the most famous song about James. A portion of the song is performed on-screen by Nick Cave, playing a strolling balladeer in a bar patronised by Robert Ford, in the 2007 movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Lyrics
Most common stanzas of many versions:
Jesse James was a lad that killed many a man,
He robbed the Glendale train,
He stole from the rich and he gave to the poor,
He’d a hand and a heart and a brain.
Well it was Robert Ford, that dirty little coward,
I wonder how he feel,
For he ate of Jesse’s bread and he slept in Jesse’s bed,
And he laid poor Jesse in his grave.
(chorus)
Well Jesse had a wife to mourn for his life,
Three children, [now] they were brave,
Well that dirty little coward that shot Mr. [Mister] Howard,
He laid poor Jesse [Has laid Jesse James] in his grave.
Jesse was a man, a friend to the poor,
He’d never rob a mother or a child,
There never was a man with the law in his hand,
That could take Jesse James alive.
Jesse was a man, a friend to the poor,
He’d never see a man suffer pain,
And with his brother Frank he robbed the Chicago bank,
And stopped the Glendale train.
It was on a Saturday night and the moon was shining bright,
They robbed the Glendale train,
And people they did say o’er many miles away
It was those outlaws, they’re Frank and Jesse James
(chorus)
Now the people held their breath when they heard of Jesse’s death,
And wondered how he ever came to fall
Robert Ford, it was a fact, he shot Jesse in the back
While Jesse hung a picture on the wall
Now Jesse went to rest with his hand on his breast,
The devil will be upon his knee.
He was born one day in the County Clay,
And he came from a solitary race.
(chorus) Other appearances
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia’s quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (August 2009)
Prefab Sprout’s 1990 album, Jordan: The Comeback featured a song called “Jesse James Symphony”, which segued into another named “Jesse James Bolero”. (These songs are bracketed by a corresponding pair about Elvis Presley, to whom Jesse is implicitly compared.)
Warren Zevon, wrote and recorded a song called “Frank and Jesse James”, and the song “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”, which contains the lyric “I met a girl in West Hollywood, but I ain’t namin’ names/She really worked me over good/She was just like Jesse James”, on his self-titled second album.
Rap singer Scarface released a song titled “Jesse James” on his seminal 1994 album The Diary
Irish folk-punk band The Pogues have a track (a version of the above mentioned traditional song[clarification needed]) named “Jesse James”, about him on their album Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
Clubland recorded a ska tune entitled “Jesse James”, in which Jesse is referred to as “the rudest rude boy…”
Terry Allen’s song “New Delhi Freight Train” begins “Some people think that I must be crazy / But my real name is just Jesse James”, and is narrated by the outlaw. Originally recorded on Allen’s 1979 album Lubbock (On Everything), the song has been covered by Rick Nelson, and by Little Feat.
In the 1970s Mary McCaslin, noted American folk singer, recorded “The Band of Jesse James,” written by her performing partner and husband Jim Ringer. “He’s wild as a half grown child at a grown-up party Like a mustang dang near kicking down the stall He’s the kind to pay no mind to what he started He don’t care, `cause he’ll be somewhere else by fall A wanted man in Reno, he moves on to Cour d’Alene You know that man could’ve rode with the band of Jesse James.” Memorial songs
The Legend of Jesse James is a concept album documenting his life. It features Levon Helm, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels and Emmylou Harris, and Albert Lee among others. Written by Paul Kennerley, it was originally released in 1980. Two songs on this album, “High Walls” and “One More Shot” have been covered by the roots band, Marley’s Ghost.
The Irish folk singer Christy Moore wrote a song called “Jesus Christ and Jesse James” about the two of them visiting Belfast, Northern Ireland, together during the Troubles.
The late Timmy Brown wrote a song called “Fighting Man” about Jesse James. The Cannonballs produced a song about the history of Jesse James called “Outlaw Jesse James” Kate Bush wrote a track titled “James and the Cold Gun” about Jesse James, for her 1978 debut album The Kick Inside.
Desperados, with the song “Jumpin’ Down The Running Train”
Dan Fogelberg, the 1985 bluegrass/traditional acoustic music album “High Country Snows” features the song “The Outlaw” composed by Jay Bolotin Mentions in group names
In the 1970s there was a musical group named The James Gang
From 1968 to 1971 rock guitarist Joe Walsh, who later joined the Eagles, played in the band whose hits included “Funk #49″ and “Walk Away.” Mentions in lyrics
George Strait states “Sometimes I feel like Jesse James / Still trying to make a name” in the chorus of his 2008 hit “Troubadour (song)”.
Toby Keith states “Running wild through the hills chasing Jesse James Ending up on the brink of danger” in Should’ve been a Cowboy.
Swollen Members mentioned Mr. James in their song, “Sinister”, when Mad Child says “Hang the hang man. Jesse James gang”
Synthpop band The Magnetic Fields mentions Jesse in the first verse of “Two Characters in Search of a Country Song,” from their 1994 album The Charm of the Highway Strip (“You were Jesse James, I was William Tell/ You were Daniel Webster, I was the Devil Himself”).
The Sugarhill Gang reference Jesse James in their song, “Apache” with the lyrics “My tribe went down in the Hall of Fame/’Cause I’m the one who shot Jesse James”.
A little known Jerry Reed song called “The Legend”, found on the Smokey and the Bandit soundtrack, opens with the lyric “You heard about the Legend of Jesse James and John Henry just to mention some names/But there’s a truck drivin’ legend in the south today/a man called Bandit from Atlanta GA.”
Everlast, in their 1998 song “Ends,” from the album Whitey Ford Sings the Blues, contains the lyrics “And all of a sudden he’s like Jesse James, trying to stick up kids for their watches and chains.”
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris, in the song “Belle Starr” from their 2006 album All the Roadrunning, have the line “I can be your Belle Starr and you can be my Jesse James” in the chorus.
“A Train Robbery” by Paul Kennerley, (with the chorus, “We will burn this train to cinders, so throw that money on down,”) appears on the 1999 re-release of The Legend of Jesse James. Levon Helm included a new version on his 2007 album Dirt Farmer.
Bob Dylan, in his song “Outlaw Blues” from his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home, defends his decision to “go electric” with the line “Ain’t gonna hang no picture, ain’t gonna hang no picture frame/Well, I might look like Robert Ford, but I feel just like a Jesse James.”
The Hal Bynum/Dave Kirby song (made popular by Cash and Waylon Jennings) “There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang” declares “I ain’t cut out to be no Jesse James.”
GWAR mentions Jesse James in their song “Bad Bad Men”.
The Lead Belly song, “Out on the Western Plains”, contains the lyrics “When me and a bunch of cowboys run into Jesse James / The bullets was a-fallin’ just like a shower rain”. Rory Gallagher sings a version of the song on his 1975 album Against the Grain.
Reggie and the Full Effect mention James in the song “G” on their album Last Stop: Crappy Town. During a verse in which the singer’s psychologist raves about a daylight bank robbery, he responds by saying, “He doesn’t even realize that Jesse James did that shit in motherfucking Liberty.”
Cher had a hit with her song “Just Like Jesse James”. “Tonight you’re gonna go down in flames Just like Jesse James/I’m gonna shoot you down Jesse James”
Nazareth, from the album ‘Loud’n'Proud’ in the song ‘Not faking it’ “Jesse james was a born killer/Me, I’m just a rock’n'roll singer”
Laurel Aitken recorded “Jesse James” in 1969. “Jesse James rise again/Don’t call me Billy the Kidd, call me James, Jesse James”
Hank Williams, Jr.’s 1983 album “Strong Stuff” has the song “Whole Lot Of Hank,” part of which indulges outlaw mythology with the lyrics, “Frank and Jesse James knowed how to rob them trains / They always took it from the rich and gave it to the poor, they might have had a bad name but they sure had a heart of gold.” Also Hank’s 1979 album Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound has the song “Old Nashville Cowboys” which features the words “Where are the cowboys and the home on the range / Does anyone know they’ve killed Jesse James”.
Johnny “Guitar” Watson wrote a song called Gangster of Love. “Well, there’s Frank James and Jesse James/Billy the Kid and all the rest”
Brazzaville have a song on 2006 album East L.A. Breeze called “Jesse James”. “When he was runnin from the cops/He said … I don wanna live your life/I wanna die like Jesse James”
Snap! in its hit “The Power” sings “I’m the lyrical Jesse James”. “maniac brainiac winning the game/i’m the lyrical jesse james”
John Lee Hooker wrote a song titled “I’m Bad like Jesse James”. “‘Cause I’m mad, I’m bad, like Jesse James”
Michael Martin Murphy recorded “Frank James’ Farewell” with the lyric “Tonight I can hear Jesse calling, and tonight we will ride once again”. Robert Ford in Music
Robert Newton “Bob” Ford who gained fame by killing the Jesse James in 1882, also depicted in the songs.
In the Bob Dylan song “Outlaw Blues”, Dylan alludes to Ford with the lines, “I ain’t gonna hang no picture/Ain’t gonna hang no picture frame/Well I might look like a Robert Ford/But I feel just like a Jesse James.”
In 1975 Elton John had a minor hit with the song “I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)” refers to a betrayal in a romantic relationship that is metaphorically likened to Jesse James’ assassin.
In the Warren Zevon song “Frank and Jesse James,” Ford is mentioned in the lyrics “Robert Ford, a gunman/In exchange for his parole/Took the life of James the outlaw/Which he snuck up on and stole.” References
^ http://www.folkarchive.de/jesse1.html
^ Jesse James was his name: or, Fact and fiction concerning the careers of the … by William A. Settle page 173-174
^ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PZ0AP4/ref=dm_dp_trk2
^ http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/175/music.php External links
List of recordings of the folk song
Statistics on recordings of the folk song Categories: American folk musicHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 | Articles needing cleanup from August 2009 | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia articles needing clarification from September 2009

History
The first goaltender mask was a fiberglass fencing mask donned in February 1927 by Queen’s University netminder Elizabeth Graham, mainly to protect her teeth. In 1930, the first crude leather model of a mask (actually an american football “nose-guard”) was worn by Clint Benedict to protect his broken nose. After recovering from the injury, he abandoned the mask, never wearing one again in his career. At the 1936 Winter Olympics, Teiji Honma wore a crude mask, not dissimilar to the one worn by baseball catchers. The mask was made of leather, and had a wire cage which protected the face, as well as Honma’s large circular glasses.
It was not until 1959 that a goaltender wore a mask full-time. On November 1, 1959, in a game between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante was struck in the face by a shot from Andy Bathgate. Plante had previously worn his mask in practice, but coach Toe Blake refused to permit him to wear it in a game, fearing it would inhibit his vision. After being stitched up, Plante gave Blake an ultimatum, refusing to go back out onto the ice without the mask, to which Blake obliged not wanting to forfeit the game since NHL teams did not carry back-up goaltenders. Plante went on a long unbeaten streak wearing the mask, which stopped when he was asked to remove it for a game. He donned the mask for the rest of his career after. When Plante introduced the mask into the game, many questioned his dedication and bravery; in response, Plante made an analogy to a person skydiving without a parachute.
Although Plante faced some laughter, the fiberglass goaltender mask soon became the standard and a symbol of the game as typified by the famous painting “At The Crease,” by Ken Danby. This style of mask is no longer used by hockey leagues, yet its fame continues because of its use by horror movie icon Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th film series. Since the invention of the fiberglass hockey mask, professional goaltenders no longer play without a mask. The last goaltender to play without a mask was Andy Brown, who played his last NHL game in 1974.
The cage/helmet combo mask, worn by Dominik Haek.
The goaltender mask evolved further from the original face-hugging fiberglass mask designed by Plante. In the 1970s, a helmet/cage combination became popular, which was popularized by Vladislav Tretiak, the noted Russian goaltender who competed against Canada in the 1972 Summit Series. Like the original fiberglass design, the helmet/cage combination has been criticized for not providing adequate facial/cranial protection. Dan Cloutier switched from this type of mask to the widely more popular full fiberglass citing safety reasons upon the advice of the Los Angeles Kings. Dominik Haek, a Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy-winner in the late 1990s used this type of mask; Haek retired from the NHL in 2008. Chris Osgood, playing for the Detroit Red Wings, is the only current NHL goaltender to use this type of mask. Goalies at lower levels at hockey (such as high-school, college, or recreational leagues) who choose to use this design cite reasons such as the plastic helmet used is lighter than the fiberglass or composite materials used in other designs, and that the helmet has a wider opening than a traditional mask for a less claustrophobic feeling and better sight of the puck.
A standard (typical) full fiberglass/Kevlar mask, as worn by Martin Gerber.
The second type of goaltender mask is a fiberglass mask with a cage attached in the middle. It can also be made out of carbon fiber, or a fiberglass and kevlar mix. These masks are able to better withstand the impacts of hockey puck at higher speeds and are used at all levels of organized ice hockey. These masks are considered safer since they disperse the impact of the puck better than the helmet/cage combination. Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins wears a newer style one piece called a Mage, made like the newer fiberglass mask, but resembles the helmet/cage combination. Tactical play
The advent of the goaltender mask changed the way goaltenders play, allowing them to make more saves on their knees without fear of serious head or facial injuries. Before the advent of the mask, most goaltenders stayed standing as much as possible. In the modern era, a goaltender is likely to make the majority of saves when he has one or both knees on the ice. With the technological advancement of the mask, shots hitting the head cause more temporary discomfort instead of serious concussions and lacerations; however, a mask does not guarantee avoiding injury, and goaltenders have been concussed by a shot hitting the head. Some goaltenders, like Dominik Hasek and Henrik Lundqvist, have used their heads intentionally to stop shots. Lundqvist said that his reason for this is to not obstruct his vision by placing his catching glove in front of his mask to stop the shot. Mask decoration
With the available surface area provided by fiberglass masks, goaltenders find it fashionable to give their mask distinctive decorations. This tradition started with the earliest masks, notably by the now-retired Boston Bruins goalkeeper Gerry Cheevers, who was known for drawing stitches on his mask whenever it got hit. These stitches represented where Cheevers would have been cut had he not been wearing his mask. Modern-day masks also offer this ability, and goaltenders are well-identified with their helmet design, often transferring the motif into their new team’s colors when traded or signed to a new team (for example, Patrick Lalime’s Marvin the Martian theme). The masks can be shattered if the shot is fast enough See also
Hockey helmet References
^ “Forget Jacques Plante”. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1069761. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
^ “History of Masks”. http://users.aol.com/maskman30/historynf.html. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
^ “Jason Voorhees figurehead”. http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/Jason_figure_head.jpg. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
^ “Andrew Conrad (Andy) Brown”. http://www.hockeygoalies.org/bio/browna.html. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
^ http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/9467692/Seasoned-goalies-get-better-of-young-counterparts
^ http://www.sportmask.com/goalie-masks/combo-mage1.html
^ “Gerry Cheevers”. http://www.hockeygoalies.org/bio/cheevers.html. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
^ “Gerry Cheevers Biography”. http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p198501&type=Player&page=bio&list=#photo. Retrieved 2007-06-17.  External links
A Brief History of the Goalie Mask
Head Case: Weird, Wild Hockey Masks – slideshow by Life magazine Categories: Ice hockey equipment | Canadian inventions | Protective gear | Masks

Beginnings
Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads School in Bushey near Watford, England, UK. At first, they performed in a short-lived ska band called The Executive, alongside two of their former school friends Paul Atkey and Mike Murphy. When this group split, Michael and Ridgeley formed a duo called Wham! and went on to sign with Innervision Records. The duo later sued Innervision to be released from their contract. The group then signed with CBS, Columbia Records in the United States and Canada and Epic Records for the rest of the world.
Michael took on the majority of roles and responsibilities within the band composer, singer, producer, and occasional instrumentalist but the contribution of Ridgeley as the group’s image specialist and spokesman was crucial to the band’s initial success . Ridgeley convinced a reluctant George Michael that Wham! needed to change their image and sound frequently, from the leather-clad moody singers of “Bad Boys” and “Young Guns (Go For It!)” to the more fashionable pop superstars of “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.”
Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group .
The dbut record to be released by the band was “Wham Rap!” in June 1982. It was one of the first ever singles by a British group to include rapping and was a double-A side with a Social Mix and Anti-Social Mix. The record was not playlisted by BBC Radio 1 in the UK, partly because of the profanity in the Anti-Social Mix. Subsequently the reissued UK release replaced the controversial lines in the first verse “B1, B2, make a claim sign your name all you have to do” and the opening two phrases of the second verse citing “Mr. Average”. Additionally two videos were recorded for each set of lyrics. In 1983 on the UK pop show, Channel 4’s The Tube, Wham! performed live the original song in full complete with the B1,B2 lines. This version was considered far better and was later released in the UK as the U.S Remix. Wham! Rap did not chart for the group but in October 1982, their song “Young Guns (Go For It!)” was issued. The song was an appeal from one youthful lad to his friend to not throw his life away so early on marriage. It also stalled outside the UK Top 40 but then Wham! got lucky when Top of the Pops scheduled them. An important weekly BBC chart show on television, it had to look outside the Top 40 to fill a gap created by an act which had pulled out of recording. Nearest to the 40 mark and still climbing, Wham! was summoned, and a phenomenon immediately began. The Top of the Pops performance of Young Guns is still considered a great moment in the group’s history – critical acclaim is given for the ‘nightclub’ feel of the dance routine by all four of the group. Increasing success
The effect of Wham! on the public, especially teenage girls, was felt from the moment they finished their dbut performance of “Young Guns (Go For It!)” on Top of the Pops. Michael wore espadrilles, a suede jacket slit open, and rolled-up denim jeans. Ridgeley stood behind him, flanked by backing dancers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman.
The performance was as much one of acting as it was of singing, with Michael playing the part of the pleading good-time lad, and Ridgeley the guy who had been drawn into commitment. Afterwards, the song shot into the Top 40 at #24 and peaked at #3 in December. The following year (1983), Dee C. Lee began her work with Paul Weller of The Style Council, and was replaced by Pepsi DeMacque. Holliman and DeMacque would later record music as Pepsi & Shirlie.
Wham! followed up “Young Guns (Go For It!)” with the reissue “Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)”, a song about the joys of a leisurely life (the full version (U.S Remix) of which clocked in at almost seven minutes long); “Bad Boys”, about a strained relationship between a rebellious teenage lad and his worried parents; and “Club Tropicana”, a satire of the media’s fascination with the elitist London club scene . Each song came with a memorable music video.
By the end of 1983, Wham! was rivaling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain’s biggest pop act. Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing a shuttlecock down their shorts, and their first album Fantastic reached #1.
Around this time, Ridgeley became conscious of legal problems with their initial contract at Innervision. While the legal battle raged (perhaps to raise much-needed funds for the fight), Innervision released a medley of non-single album tracks from Fantastic, entitled Club Fantastic Megamix. Wham! publicly denounced the move, and urged fans not to buy it. After all the legal wrangling, Innervision admitted there were royalty discrepancies with Wham!’s contract, leading to the bankruptcy and dissolution of Innervision.
Driven by Ridgeley, the duo changed their image, and Wham! returned in May 1984 with an updated, cutting-edge pop image quickly copied by other pop bands and David Simmonite (Jims mate) in Sheffield. In a process begun by the video to “Club Tropicana” on the previous album, Ridgeley changed the band’s look from “moody in leather jackets” to smiles and fashionable clothing, with an aim to promote themselves more as hedonistic sex symbols rather than spokespeople for a disaffected generation.
Fittingly enough, these changes propelled the next single (a pop standard) to the top of the charts around the world. “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go,” an infectiously catchy song Michael wrote from a note left to him in his hotel room one night by Ridgeley. The note was mistakenly written by Ridgeley as “don’t forget to wake me up up before you go go, George”. Since he accidentally wrote the word “up” twice, Ridgeley decided to compound the error and write “go” twice. It became their first UK #1 and rose to the top in the USA, capped by a memorable video of the duo, plus the ubiquitous Pepsi and Shirlie, wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirts with the slogans “CHOOSE LIFE” and “GO GO”.
With some bizarre contradiction, the next single “Careless Whisper” was issued as a George Michael solo piece, yet unlike any Wham! single since “Wham Rap!,” it was co-written by Ridgeley. The song, about a remorseful two-timer, had more emotional depth than previous releases and quickly reached #1, marking a new phase as George Michael tried to distance himself from Wham!’s playboy image. In the U.S. — so as not to confuse American listeners just being exposed to Wham! — the song was released as being by Wham! featuring George Michael. In the autumn of 1984, Wham! came back as a duo with “Freedom”, another chart-topper with George Michael presented as a broken hearted romantic, and the first single for many years to reach #1 in the UK without an accompanying video (this was because the first video was canned due to its poor quality; a video was subsequently shot in time for the US release). In November, they released their second album, Make It Big, which coasted to #1 on the album charts. The band set off on another arena tour at the end of 1984, and Ridgeley told Smash Hits magazine at the time that he had written a song called “Stephen”. The song had been composed for a friend who was struggling to cope with bereavement.
Michael contributed to the Band Aid project, with him providing vocals as the song usurped their own Christmas release, “Last Christmas”/”Everything She Wants,” the former of which featured a video set in a ski resort.
The single became the highest-selling single ever to peak at #2 in the UK charts. As such, Wham! donated all their royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal to coincide with the fundraising intentions of Band Aid, the song which beat them to the top spot. Band Aid’s success meant that Michael had been at #1 within three different entities in 1984 as a solo artist, half of a duo, and part of a charity ensemble. China and Live Aid
In April 1985, Wham! took a break from recording to embark on an enormous world tour including a ground-breaking 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group. The China excursion was a masterful publicity scheme devised by Simon Napier-Bell (one of their two managers). It culminated in a concert at the Workers’ Gymnasium in Beijing in front of 10,000 people. Director Lindsay Anderson documented the tour in his film Foreign Skies.
Sporting a beard, Michael appeared with Ridgeley onstage at Live Aid (although they did not perform as Wham!). Michael sang “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with Elton John while Ridgeley joined Kiki Dee in the row of backup singers. In September, Wham! released “I’m Your Man” which went to #1 in the UK charts.
Michael began a relationship with model/makeup artist Kathy Yeung and Ridgeley with Keren Woodward of Bananarama. Ridgeley also took up the hobby of rally driving, famously crashing one car before the end of 1985. “Last Christmas” was re-issued for the festive season and again made the UK Top 10, peaking at #6, while Michael took up offers he was starting to receive to add his voice to other artists’ songs. He performed backing vocals for David Cassidy, Deon Estus’s song “Heaven Help Me,” and for Elton John on his successful singles “Nikita” (a UK #3) and “Wrap Her Up,” (a UK #12) on which he sang co-lead. Demise
Michael desired to create music targeted to a more sophisticated audience than the duo’s primarily teenage fan-base. Therefore, Michael and Ridgeley announced the breakup of Wham! in the spring of 1986, destined to take place after a farewell single and album, along with a historic grand finale concert at Wembley Stadium on 28 June 1986, called The Final. British pop group Five Star declined George’s invitation to be the supporting act, saying they needed to concentrate on their own career at the time.
The farewell single was “The Edge of Heaven” which reached #1 in June 1986. “Where Did Your Heart Go?” was the group’s final single in the United States. The song, originally recorded by art-rock ensemble Was (Not Was), was a downbeat and sombre affair that telegraphed the intentions of George Michael for the next decade’s work and would fit musically on any of his solo albums. The duo’s last album was a double-LP collection of all the singles to date, mostly the extended versions, and was also called The Final (released in North America as the severely pared-down Music from the Edge of Heaven with alternate tracks). Wham! then said goodbye to their audience (73,000 of whom attended the eight-hour event) and each other with an emotional embrace at the end of the show. The band had been together five years, selling close to 20 million albums and 10 to 15 million singles. Foreign Skies, the film of their tour of China, received its world premiere as part of the festivities, making it the most highly-attended film premire in history. Post-Wham!
For several years after he became a solo artist, George Michael spoke in public negatively about his time in Wham!, largely because of the intense negativity of media coverage on partner Ridgeley. Michael complained of the constant pressure he felt, and he claimed that the duo had been mistreated financially. He also spoke disparagingly about the Wham! repertoire, especially the songs from the first album.
However, his perspective on the era has softened in recent times. He still performs “I’m Your Man” and “Everything She Wants,” one of the more critically acclaimed songs from the Wham! era, at his solo concerts.
Ridgeley, on the other hand, moved to Monaco after Wham!’s break-up and tried his hand at Formula Three motor racing. Meeting with little success, Ridgeley moved to Los Angeles to pursue his singing/acting career, the failure of which made him return to England in 1990. Regardless, CBS Records (later Sony Music), having taken up the option on Wham!’s contract that specified solo albums from Michael and Ridgeley, released a guitar-and-drum-driven solo effort from Ridgeley, Son of Albert, in 1990. His brother Paul – a frequent percussionist for Bananarama – played drums on the album. Singles included “Shake” and “Red Dress.” CBS passed up the option of a second album.
In Anthony Horowitz’s book Eagle Strike, the main villain, singer Damian Cray is the founding member of a band called “Slam!”, a parody of Wham!
On 21 November 2009, there was a Wham! themed night on The X Factor. George later apeared on the X Factor final episode performing a duet “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” with finalist and eventual winner Joe McElderry. Discography
Main article: Wham! discography References
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)
^ Wham Confidential, page 140, by Johnny Rogan
^ ‘Young Brats Go For it’, New Musical Express, November 1982
^ ‘Teen Dreams Come True,’ New Musical Express, June 1983
^ ‘Wham Wrap’, The Tube, Channel 4, 1986
^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | How Wham! brought the West to China External links
Official website of George Michael
Wham! at Rolling Stone
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Wham!
George Michael  Andrew Ridgeley
Studio albums
Fantastic  Make It Big  Music from the Edge of Heaven
Compilations
The Final  If You Were There (The Best of Wham)
Singles
“Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)”  “Young Guns (Go For It!)”  “Bad Boys”  “Club Tropicana”  “Club Fantastic Megamix”  “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”  “Careless Whisper”  “Freedom”  “Everything She Wants”  “Last Christmas”  “I’m Your Man”  “A Different Corner”  “The Edge of Heaven”  “Where Did Your Heart Go?”
Related articles
Boogie Box High  Deon Estus  Pepsi & Shirlie  Tommy Eyre
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George Michael
Studio albums
Faith  Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1  Older  Songs from the Last Century  Patience
Compilations & EP
Five Live  Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael  Twenty Five
Solo singles
“Careless Whisper”  “A Different Corner”  “I Want Your Sex”  “Hard Day”  “Faith”  “Father Figure”  “One More Try”  “Monkey”  “Kissing a Fool”  “Praying for Time”  “Waiting for That Day”  “Mother’s Pride”  “Freedom! ‘90″  “Heal the Pain”  “Cowboys and Angels”  “Too Funky”  “Killer” / “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”  “Jesus to a Child”  “Fastlove”  “Spinning the Wheel”  “Older / I Can’t Make You Love Me”  “Star People ‘97″  “You Have Been Loved / The Strangest Thing ‘97″  “Outside”  “Freeek!”  “Shoot the Dog”  “Amazing”  “Flawless (Go to the City)”  “Round Here”  “John and Elvis Are Dead”  “An Easier Affair”  “December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)”
Duet singles
“Wrap Her Up”  I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)”  “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”  “Waltz Away Dreaming”   “As”  “If I Told You That”  “This Is Not Real Love”  “Heal the Pain”
Tours and DVD’s
The Faith World Tour  Cover to Cover tour  25 Live  George Michael Live in London   George Michael Live in Australia 
Related articles
Discography  Awards  Chart achievements  Live performances  Wham!  George Michael Vs Sony  Eli Stone
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Andrew Ridgeley
Studio albums
Son of Albert
Solo singles
“Red Dress”  “Shake”
Related articles
Wham! Categories: 1980s music groups | English musical groups | George Michael | Musical duos | BRIT Award winners | Music from London | Musical groups established in 1981 | Musical groups disestablished in 1986 | People from BusheyHidden categories: Articles needing additional references from July 2008 | All articles needing additional references | Articles needing additional references from January 2008

Parameters and features
Sampling frequency 8 kHz/16 bit (160 samples for 20 ms frames, 240 samples for 30 ms frames)
Controlled response to packet loss, delay and jitter
Fixed bitrate (15.2 kbit/s for 20 ms frames, 13.33 kbit/s for 30 ms frames)
Fixed frame size (304 bits per block for 20 ms frames, 400 bits per block for 30 ms frames)
Robustness similar to pulse code modulation (PCM) with packet loss concealment, like the ITU-T G.711
CPU load similar to G.729A, with higher basic quality and better response to packet loss
Royalty-free
Commercial use of the source code supplied by GIPS requires a license
PSQM testing under ideal conditions yields mean opinion scores of 4.14 for iLBC (15.2 kbit/s), compared to 4.45 for G.711 (u-law) See also
RTP audio video profile
Comparison of audio codecs References
^ Global IP Solutions iLBC Freeware Public License (HTML) External links
iLBC homepage
Global IP Solutions homepage
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Multimedia compression formats
Video compression
ISO/IEC
MJPEG  Motion JPEG 2000  MPEG-1  MPEG-2 (Part 2)  MPEG-4 (Part 2/ASP  Part 10/AVC)  HVC
ITU-T
H.120  H.261  H.262  H.263  H.264  H.265
Others
AMV  AVS  Bink  CineForm  Cinepak  Dirac  DV  Indeo  OMS Video  Pixlet  RealVideo  RTVideo  SheerVideo  Smacker  Sorenson Video  Theora  VC-1  VP6  VP7  VP8  WMV   XVD
Audio compression
ISO/IEC
MPEG-1 Layer III (MP3)  MPEG-1 Layer II  MPEG-1 Layer I  AAC  HE-AAC  MPEG-4 ALS  MPEG-4 SLS  MPEG-4 DST
ITU-T
G.711  G.718  G.719  G.722  G.722.1  G.722.2  G.723  G.723.1  G.726  G.728  G.729  G.729.1
Others
AC3  AMR  AMR-WB  AMR-WB+  Apple Lossless  ATRAC  DRA  FLAC  GSM-FR  GSM-EFR  iLBC  Monkey’s Audio  -law  Musepack  Nellymoser  OptimFROG  RealAudio  RTAudio  SHN  SILK  Siren  Speex  TwinVQ  Vorbis  WavPack  WMA  True Audio
Image compression
ISO/IEC/ITU-T
JPEG  JPEG 2000  JPEG XR  lossless JPEG  JBIG  JBIG2  PNG  WBMP
Others
APNG  BMP  DjVu  EXR  GIF  ICER  ILBM  MNG  PCX  PGF  TGA  TIFF
Media containers
General
3GP  ASF  AVI  Bink  DMF  DPX  EVO  FLV  GXF  M2TS   Matroska  MPEG-PS  MPEG-TS  MP4  MXF   Ogg  QuickTime  RealMedia  RIFF  Smacker  VOB
Audio only
AIFF  AU  WAV
See Compression methods for methods and Compression software implementations for codecs
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Data compression software implementations
Video compression
(Comparison)
MPEG-4 ASP
3ivx  DivX  Nero Digital  FFmpeg MPEG-4  HDX4  Xvid
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
CoreAVC   Blu-code   DivX H.264   Nero Digital AVC   QuickTime H.264  x264
Lossless
CorePNG  FFV1   Huffyuv  Lagarith  MSU Lossless   SheerVideo
Others
CineForm  Cinepak  DNxHD  Helix DNA Producer  Indeo  libavcodec  Schrdinger (Dirac)  SBC  Sorenson  VP7  libtheora  Windows Media Encoder
Audio compression
(Comparison)
Lossy
Freeware Advanced Audio Coder (FAAC)  Helix DNA Producer  l3enc  LAME  TooLAME  libavcodec  libcelt  libspeex  Musepack  libvorbis  Windows Media Encoder
Lossless
FLAC  ALAC  Monkey’s Audio  OptimFROG  TTA   WavPack
Archivers
(Comparison)
Free software
7-Zip  Ark  bzip2  compress  File Roller  gzip  Info-ZIP  KGB Archiver  lzop  PAQ  PeaZip  The Unarchiver  tar  Xarchiver
Freeware
7zX  DGCA  Filzip  IZArc  LHA  StuffIt Expander (decompression only)   TUGZip  UHarc/WinUHA  Zipeg  ZipGenius
Proprietary
ARC  ALZip  Archive Utility  ARJ  Astrotite  JAR  MacBinary  PKZIP/SecureZIP  PowerArchiver  Squeez  StuffIt  WinAce  WinRAR  WinZip
Command line
ARC  ARJ  JAR  Info-ZIP  LHA  lzop  PAQ  PKZIP  RAR  UPX  UHarc  tar
See Compression methods for methods and Compression formats for formats
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