Simon Napier-Bell managed pop group Wham! during the early 80s. As a manager he helped the group become international stars. Wham! were the first Western pop group ever to play in communist China. Simon details his time managing Wham! and how the China trip came to be in his book I'm Coming To Take You To Lunch-A Fantastic Tale of Boys, Booze, and How Wham Were Sold To China.
You can visit Simon Napier-Bell on the web at www.simonnapierbell.com.

You can read my review of his book here.

Did you keep a journal during that time?
No, no I never kept a journal. I've got a memory and when I write a book, which I suppose you call a memoir, it just has to be what I remember and what I don't remember doesn't get in there.

What made you to write a book about this?
I've been asked to write a book about Wham! every since I managed them and I never wanted to. Their just two bright kids, they've had 50 books written about them, there's nothing more to say. In the end I got pushed and pushed. I said, "I'll write about not about Wham!, but I will write a book about three years I was managing Wham!" So it's not just Wham! it's my life and all the things that I did and that made it a lot more interesting.

Why was it so important for you to take the group to China?
We wanted to break America and they didn't want to wait. George and Andrew are intensely impatient. They said,"We want to be the biggest group in the world and we want to do it in a year and a half or two years." Being the biggest group in the world means being the biggest group in America and that never takes two years that takes four or five years. You have to tour and come back. It's endless. They just didn't want to do that. We had to think of some way to jump the whole thing forward. Over a dinner with too much wine I made this foolish suggestion, "Why don't we become the first group to play in communist China." George liked the idea and they said go and fix it. A few weeks later I'm sitting in Beijing wondering "How the hell do I do this?" Which led to feeding people lunch and chatting it up. It's all in the book.

Listen to Simon

Why was it so hard to sell Wham to the US?
It wasn't hard. They had two number one hits already. But the point is in the US it takes about four years to build a group from having their first hit to being a household name. In the UK we have tabloid national press. You get a couple of pictures in the Daily Mirror or the Daily Mail and the whole of England knows your name. In America you can't just do that. It takes a long time and you have to build stuff more slowly. You need stuff like the front page of Time Magazine and national television and it takes a long time and they just wanted to do it quickly. By being in China they got to be on CBS, NBC, ABC, prime time news four times a day for days consecutively, the whole of America knew their name.

I am one of those Wham fans who was a fan during the Fantastic era. I read a lot of UK magazines and I had the album. The two albums are so different, as a manager did you have any input in the music on the second album?
No. With Wham! I didn't need to put musical input. Many groups I've worked with I had but there was no need. George is brilliant with the music and they had enough people with them that I could just leave them and they would get on with it. The only input came when it came to the marketing and which order we put records out and all that thing. The actual making of the album was George, not even George and Andrew. The second album was just nearly all George.

When was the last time you've spoken with George or Andrew?
Andrew probably 18-19 years ago when the group broke up. Andrew is a very relaxed and content person. He just went off, got married and went down to Cornwall and he's been there every since. He's got no desire to be a musician, hardly ever comes to London, windsurfs everyday. He's an easygoing guy I never get to see him. George we bump into each other at a dinner or a party, we're not friends, we'll nod and pass.

As a manager who worked so hard with the Whamania was it frustrating to you when George wanted to go solo at the peak of the groups success?
Of course it is. They could have played a tour and grossed 3 or 4 hundred million dollars. Obviously, a manager works for money and a manager gets a percentage, but also a feeling of pride, you break them and make them huge and it's very disappointing when you don't see it go on and make something more. On the other hand, George didn't want to go on with it. He wanted to go solo, there wasn't nothing more I could do with it.

No, but my parents used to listen to them. And Dusty Springfield?
I didn't manage her I wrote a song for her.

Are you still in the music managing business?
Yes, it's very hard to give it up. Every time I say I'm not going to do it anymore and another act comes along. Something just grabs you, I'm working now with a band called Brother Man Dude. They are a rock band, the bass, drums and guitar are from the UK and the singer is from Bahrain. He's an Arab guy but if you meet him you will think he's American. He has this beautiful mid 70's live rock stadium voice and the album will be out in the fall. Promotion begins in about three months and the album comes out this fall.

Visit Simon Napier-Bell online at http://www.simonnapierbell.com

Audio Clip Coming Soon

Simon Napier-Bell interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the founder of Thabiz.com and Imissthe80s.com and writes for the Rap, Teen, and 1980s section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying entertainment jobs, or general comments.
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Simon Napier-Bell interview may not be reprinted, copied or distributed. You may link to this interview.
Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com October 2005.