Get Me Out of Here Because I’m A Celebrity! Following a “traumatic” tour, singer-songwriter Martin Kemp discovered himself supporting wife Shirlie while she was performing for the pop group Wham!
Martin Kemp’s wife Shirlie has opened up about a “traumatic” trip to China that left her needing therapy and a holiday in Florida. The singer, who performed as a backing vocalist for Wham! in Beijing and Guangzhou in 1985, described the visit as “the most shocking experience”.
The performances were a landmark moment for China, marking the first time a Western pop band had played in the country. However, Shirlie was deeply affected by the sight of the Great Wall of China, known as “the longest cemetery on Earth” due to the hundreds of thousands of lives lost during its construction.
Shirlie said, “Everything just upset me in a way, I thought, “Who built this wall?” in a conversation with Travel Secrets The Podcast. Building’s loss of lives was a culture that I was deeply saddened by.
Martin explained that as soon as he started paying for his wife’s therapy, the costs of the trip “mounted up.” He continued, “It cost me a lot in therapy when Shirlie returned from China.” The truth is that.
Shirlie continued, claiming that “something else that was quite traumatic” transpired during the trip, prompting her to demand that she go back. She said, “Martin, take me to Florida, I need to go somewhere brand-new.”
The trip to Florida was not just the therapy, according to Martin, but it was also. Everything was “mountaining up.”
Following Shirlie’s return to the country, the duo headed to America to attend a tennis camp. After spending ten days traveling with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, she claims it helped her “reset” to normal life.
Wham! captured the historic visit. In China: Foreign Skies, George revealed that the Chinese Minister for Culture had issued a warning to fans to avoid imitating his provocative dance moves.
He continued, “He basically advised the youth that were present to attend the concert and watch it but not learn from it,” which he claimed was utterly absurd.
One of the group’s traveling guests, one of their backing musicians, was the subject of a disturbing incident. Portuguese trumpeter Raul D’Oliveira allegedly had a psychotic episode while Helen “Pepsi” DeMacque and Shirlie stood screamlessly in their path to their second performance.
According to authorities, he then allegedly forced his way into the cockpit before being restrained by the pilot, who then performed an emergency nosedive. Support vocalist Janet Mooney said in an interview with the Independent: “It was very traumatic for all of us, mostly because we had to land a few times in bad weather, and that wasn’t great, and of course something not very nice was happening to a friend of ours.”
Shirlie reveals she hasn’t been back to China since Wham! ‘s groundbreaking tour. Martin is currently in Australia taking part in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
Source: Mirror
Leave a Reply