First recorded by George Michael (1983).
Hit version by Wham! (US #1/UK #1/IRE #1/AUS #1/JPN #1/SUI #1 1984).
From the wiki: “‘Careless Whisper’ was co-written by George Michael with Andrew Ridgeley, the other member of the duo Wham!. The song went through at least two rounds of production: The first was during a trip Michael made to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he went to work with producer Jerry Wexler at Muscle Shoals Studio. But, Michael was unhappy with that production and, almost a year after returning to England, decided to re-record and produce the song himself, at Sarm Studios, West London, this time coming up with the version that was finally released. The Wexler-produced version did, eventually, see the light of day – but only later on, as a (4:41) B-side ‘Special Version’ on 12”, released in the UK and Japan.
“Michael and Ridgeley had written ‘Careless Whisper’ together, in 1980, when Michael was working as a cinema usher in Watford, UK. Michael said that he wrote it ‘in his head’ during work and that he recalls coming up with the saxophone riff while boarding a #32 bus on the way home. ”
Wham!, “Careless Whisper” (1984):