The song has been covered by a number of artists since its release, including Brian McKnight, Seether, Roger Williams, Kenny G and Julio Iglesias, among others.

A contemporary pop song with R&B and soul influences, it features a prominent saxophone riff composed by Michael and played by Steve Gregory.

In 1981, Michael (age 18) was working as a DJ at the Bel Air Restaurant[8][9][10] in Northwood, London[11] near Bushey, Hertfordshire.

[14] "When I was twelve, thirteen, I used to have to chaperone my sister, who was two years older, to an ice rink at Queensway in London," he explained.

[16] They continued to work together on the music and lyrics both at Michael's house in Radlett, and Shirlie Holliman's aunt's basement flat in Peckham, where Ridgeley was living.

[16][17] The original demo was recorded by local music producer Paul Mex on 18 January 1982 alongside "Wham Rap!

(Enjoy What You Do)" in the front room of Ridgeley's home (his parents' lounge turned into a makeshift studio) with Mex's TEAC 4-track Portastudio.

[23] However, on the same day, Michael and Ridgeley were called over by Dean to sign a contract in addition to the record deal, which they did at a nearby greasy spoon café.

Michael recalls of that day: "One of the most incredible moments of my life was hearing 'Careless Whisper' demoed properly, with a band, a sax and everything.

The first was during a trip Michael made to Sheffield, Alabama, where he went to work with producer Jerry Wexler at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1983.

After the backing track and Michael's vocal had been recorded, Wexler had booked the top saxophone player from Los Angeles to fly in and do the solo.

But that had been made two years earlier by a friend of George's who lived round the corner and played sax for fun in the pub.

The record label Innervision was going to put out the Wexler version of "Careless Whisper" after the "Club Fantastic Megamix" as early as 1983.

to promote Fantastic, so according to him it would not have made sense to release "Careless Whisper" as a solo single in the middle of the tour, despite it being part of the setlist.

[29][30] Michael elaborated on the song's production and how it turned out in the end: Jerry Wexler did one recording of "Careless Whisper" with me.

[30] After hiring and firing several other sax players, for which the BBC characterized as struggling to play all the notes with "the right amount of fluidity and still breathe,"[31] Michael eventually heard what he was looking for from Steve Gregory.

[33][34] Gregory showed up to the studio around midnight to find Ray Warleigh, an experienced Australian session musician, waiting his turn to try his attempt at the solo.

Gregory met with producer Chris Porter and listened to the earlier saxophone recording performed by Tom Scott on the Jerry Wexler production.

And so having been around for a while, having had a bit of experience, I suggested to him, I said, "look, if you took it down by a semitone, a very small amount, I'd have all the proper notes on my horn and we could see how it sounds."

[36] It stayed at number one for three weeks, going on to become the fifth best-selling single of 1984 in the United Kingdom; outsold only by the two Frankie Goes to Hollywood tracks, "Two Tribes" and "Relax", Stevie Wonder with "I Just Called to Say I Love You", and Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

The song also topped the charts in 25 other countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1985 under the credit "Wham!

's "versatility and range" when compared to the previous single "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", calling this song "soft, beguiling and memorable" and saying that it features "a highly romantic instrumental arrangement as well as an extremely well-written melody and lyric".

[41] Amy Hanson of AllMusic described the song as "perfect for dance floor canoodling", stating, "built around a simmering Latin-lite tempo, sultry sax and Michael's own impassioned delivery, 'Careless Whisper' touched fans and passive listeners alike to become one of, if not the only, love songs of 1985".

[42] The official music video (which uses the shorter single version instead of the full album version) was directed by Duncan Gibbins (who previously directed "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go") shows the guilt felt by a man (portrayed by Michael) over an affair, and his acknowledgement that his partner (Lisa Stahl) is going to find out.

It was filmed on location in Miami, Florida, in February 1984[43] and features such locales as Coconut Grove and Watson Island.

[44] The final part of the video shows Michael leaning out of a top floor balcony of Miami's Grove Towers.

"[48] As the band felt they had "screwed up" the video, further footage of Michael singing the song onstage was later shot at the Lyceum Theatre, London.

[49][citation needed] The video performance (1984 version) was officially uploaded to the George Michael YouTube channel on 24 October 2009.

[50][51] All tracks are written by George Michael and Andrew RidgeleyCredits adapted from the Extended Mix's liner notes.