A lot of the great painters were not the nicest people in the world. Astley is more diplomatic: “It's a well turned phrase, but you have to separate the art from the artist. What’s really amazing, after a couple solid decades of Morrissey popping off the worst possible takes about immigration and Brexit and more, is hearing those classic songs being sung by someone likable. Check it out: he looks great, he sounds great, he’s self-deprecating but he clearly came to slay. This year, Astley said yes to a couple of genuinely surprising things, including a prime daytime set at the Glastonbury Festival. If you get an offer of a gig you want to do, maybe just say yes for a change.” It's not like someone's making you do it. “It said: well, listen, you can have fun with it. You don't even have to sing your old songs.’ So I went out and sang all my dad's favorite Frank Sinatra songs in tiny little places with a tiny little six-piece band.” Something inside clicked. I'll set it up so that once you've done these gigs, you can shake hands and walk away if you don't want to do it.’” And the pressure to sing “Never Gonna Give You Up” was off: “He said, ‘you can sing anything you want. That changed once his daughter was off to the Danish capital and he got a low-impact offer from a promoter: “‘Just go out and sing again. It was time to stop.” He adds: “I didn’t sing for about 15 years.” “Listen, I don’t think the record company was pleading with me to stay, but I thought: just walk out now while nobody’s looking. “I sold a lot of records, and it was the eighties, so I made some money that was life changing, but I just asked myself the question one day, do I really really want this?” hit without them: 1991’s “Cry For Help.” Stardom still didn’t feel right. “I went in my shell a little bit.”Īll the same, Astley and SAW had a huge couple of years together: “Together Forever,” and “It Would Take A Strong Strong Man,” of course, but don’t sleep on 1989’s “She Wants To Dance With Me.” Rick left SAW after their second album together, and managed one U.S. “Going to America and having a number one hit is a bit like, what the hell is going on? It's enough even to go to New York and L.A., but to go there and before you know anything about the country, they've seen you, they've heard you, they've got a grasp of what and who you are? That’s a lot to take on board as a 21 year old,” he admits. It was huge for SAW, and it was hard on Astley. It remains the team’s biggest success to date, hitting number one pretty much everywhere. On New Year’s Day of that year, Astley recorded “Never Gonna Give You Up” with British production team Stock Aitken Waterman, then riding a high from having produced Bananarama’s “Venus” and Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round.” But “Never Gonna Give You Up” is the track that solidified the Stock Aitken Waterman sound: the bouncing bass line, the sparkliest synths in town. Vinnie Zuffante // Getty ImagesĪstley’s expectations were different in 1987. We had a number one album, which to be honest, couldn't have been further from my expectations.”Īstley performs at the Prince’s Trust Rock Concert, US, 1988. And then we took it to my old label just to see if they had any interest. I played all the instruments, wrote it, produced it, all of that. “I did it without a record label, just to see what I could do. “She’s got some work in London at the moment, so she’s hanging out with us for a bit.” A few steps away from where Astley is standing is the studio he built in his garage, where he recorded his comeback album, 50, seven years ago. He’s calling from his home in London, where his 31-year-old daughter is visiting him and her mother from Copenhagen: “She went to study there 12 years ago and just never came back,” he says. “It’s a lot more comfortable now,” he says, “and therefore I don’t want to stop it.” We’ve known each other for so long, us and him, but 2023 is finally Rick Astley’s year.Īstley is 57 now, still baby-faced, and hair very much still on point. He’s got a fresh perspective on pop stardom, a surprising side project or two, a killer set at one of the world’s biggest rock festivals, a closet full of gorgeous suits, and a new album Are We There Yet, out today. “I didn't love the world of pop music, to be honest” Rick Astley says, “because what I dreamed it was and what I wanted it to be, it kind of wasn't.” Well, here’s to never giving up: 36 years after his first, biggest, and completely career-defining hit, 28 years after walking away from the industry, seven years after dipping a toe back in and getting a surprise number one album, Rick Astley is having one hell of a moment.
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