The group then signed with CBS, Columbia Records in the United States and Canada and Epic Records for the rest of the world. The duo later sued Innervision to be released from their contract. When this group split, Michael and Ridgeley formed a duo called Wham! and went on to sign with Innervision Records. 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. Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads School in Bushey near Watford, England, UK.
They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK because of a naming conflict with another band. Wham! (often written WHAM!) was a British duo formed in 1981 by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.
