"Freedom" is a hit song by British pop duo Wham!. It became the group's second number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and reached number three in America. It was written and produced by

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

, one half of the duo.

History

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "George Michael’s R&B tinged vocals soar with the tune’s catchy

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described the song as a "

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

tribute". Wham! had already enjoyed a successful 1984 by the time "Freedom" was released in October of the year. " Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" had given them their first UK number one and had then reached the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States. George had then gone to number one with a solo single, " Careless Whisper". "Freedom" was number one in the UK for three weeks, and featured on the album ''Make It Big'', which was issued at the same time. "Freedom" was the 10th biggest-selling single of 1984. This song also reached number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US in September 1985. The music video, coinciding with the 1985 US release, features the band touring around Beijing, China. The melody of the song's chorus was used by George Michael as an introduction to his song, " Faith", played on a church organ. A reworked version of the song with altered lyrics (but still performed by the duo) was used to promote Maxell's line of audio cassettes in 1984. When the single was released in the United States, the song was remixed and extended an extra 20 seconds. The remix involved the vocals being given more reverb and the organ sounds being higher up in the mix. The extension involved a new trumpet section and added vocals. The section had first been heard in The Big Tour to close the number. The American remix was later included on The Final (album) and later, the greatest hits compilation album The Best of Wham!: If You Were There.... However, the original version was included on the release of Make It Big in the United States.

Track listings

* Incorrectly labelled as 5:00 in length. * Note "Long Version" is mislabeled as "Long Mix"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control UK Singles Chart number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Wham! songs 1984 singles Number-one singles in Iceland Number-one singles in Norway Songs about casual sex Songs written by George Michael Song recordings produced by George Michael 1984 songs CBS Records singles