Pepsi & Shirlie - It’s All in Black and White: Wham! Life and Friendship

London. Wham! Pop, glitz and glamour. And two girls with stars in their eyes.

Our friendship began one windy day in 1982, outside Finsbury Park tube. It was an instant like at first sight. We were on our way to a Wham! rehearsal. Pepsi was the new girl in the band and over a car stereo, a cassette tape and that journey to Bushey we bonded. We had no idea that we were on the first of many journeys together and that soon we’d be travelling all over Europe, Australia, America, China and Japan. Or that no matter where we went, together, we’d find a way to make every exotic destination feel like home.

We’d both been teenagers during the seventies - a dreary and difficult decade, especially if you were young in London and you didn’t have much money.

So, in 1982, anything was possible for us - a pair of twentysomethings who hadn’t been to university, who didn’t have any money, who dreamt of singing and dancing, but ultimately lived for fun. Everything felt new and life was a question mark. We had no idea what was lying ahead, but we wanted to say yes.

What we didn’t know was that we were saying yes to a lifetime of connection that has endured whatever we’ve done, wherever we’ve been. From the side of the stage to its centre - we have many stories to tell.

And it’s all here, it’s all in black and white.