Never gonna give you up! Rick Astley on fame, Kylie Minogue and his upcoming Aussie tour
No one was more shocked than Rick Astley when he returned to the top of the charts 30 years after his last No. 1 album. Now, the Never Gonna Give You Up singer is preparing for a tour Down Under.
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No one was more shocked than Rick Astley when the pop star and viral meme subject returned to the top of the UK charts 30 years after his last No. 1 album.
The collection of original songs called 50 – the first wholly written and recorded by Astley himself – claimed the top spot in 2016, almost three decades after the 1987 release of his debut album Whenever You Need Somebody.
That unexpected and surreal achievement ushered in a new era of fame for the English singer whose debut single Never Gonna Give You Up continues to find a new generation of fans courtesy of the hilarious rickrolling internet phenomenon which kicked off in 2007 and springs back into life at least annually ever since.
Fame the second time around is a less pressurised and more enjoyable experience for the 53-year-old pop star, who heads back to Australia to tour this month.
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These days, Astley is the cool artist Stormzy snaps a selfie with backstage at a gig, the Foo Fighters invite on stage by Foo Fighters at a Japanese festival to perform Never Gonna Give You Up and has his own beer brand.
“Everything has changed a little bit here because of 50 going to No. 1,” the affable musician says from his London home. “When you go outside of the UK, it’s probably (only) the hardcore fans who know I have made new music.
“When I go into a coffee shop here and people recognise me, the bizarre thing is that’s been really, really nice.
“Going back to when I was a kid and all that happened, I did feel a little under pressure sometimes and really, it was only pop music.
“For the young guy who didn’t know what was going on, there was a pressure and now I don’t have any expectations.”
His musical achievements in this millennium are also remarkable for the fact Astley is doing it all himself.
Back in the ‘80s, he was the blue-eyed soul singer in the famous Stock Aitken Waterman stable, the British pop factory responsible for more than 100 top 40 hits in the UK alone, by Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Bananarama, Dead or Alive and Mel and Kim.
He remembers fondly on his first promotional visit to Australia at the height of his debut success, he was booked on one of the variety shows of the time and Kylie rocked up with her mother just to say hello, because it was the polite thing to do for a stablemate.
Fast forward three decades and he’s performing at her 50th birthday party in London.
“I sang Never Gonna Give You Up and turned it into I Should Be So Lucky,” he says.
“She’s been doing it as long as I have and she’s had a stellar career; she’s made of that different stuff, that desire.”
That’s not to say that Astley doesn’t have that stuff. But the soul-voiced singer plucked from drumming into a local band by SAW producer Pete Waterman was a very different pop artist to the other artists on the label.
He is part of the history revisionist squad who are giving SAW belated credit for their considerable influence of the sound of the ‘80s in the UK and Australia.
“I think for all the flak they have got, if you analysed what they were doing, they definitely had a plan. A lot of the records of the time started sounding similar to each other so radio DJs could easily meld one song into the other,” he says.
“But if you look at what SAW were doing, Dead or Alive doesn’t sound like Never Gonna Give You Up and I don’t think any of Kylie’s record sound exactly the same as mine.”
While Kylie and Jason’s pop careers were hugely assisted by their Neighbours-generated popularity both here and in England, Astley’s success was entirely driven by radio in the early days.
The SAW marketing team weren’t keen on making a music video, with Astley suspecting they didn’t think he looked like the quintessential pop star poster boy.
“I think they were worried about the way I looked,” Astley says, matter-of-factly. “But it could also have been a tactical thing because the record was doing great at radio and they said they wanted to let it do its thing and build.
“I had been on Top of the Pops, so you saw me or you didn’t.
“But this was the MTV era and you needed a video so when the song hit No. 1, we did the video. In the end, I think the song did what it did because of radio, not that video.”
Astley released The Best Of Me last year which is essentially a greatest hits compilation. Before you cynically suggest it should be a “greatest hit” record, the pop star had more than a few chart hits including Whenever You Need Somebody, Cry For Help, When I Fall In Love, Together Forever and She Wants To Dance With Me.
The collection features the original version of the song that started it all for him but also a haunting reimagination as a piano ballad. And it’s beautiful.
The problem is, Astley probably will never be able to give up the original pop version of Never Gonna Give You Up to perform the stunning new rendition on tour.
“When we come to Australia and then back to the UK on tour, I am not going to play the new version,” he says.
“People come to hear them like the old records, I know that. I did perform the piano version at a couple of small gigs we did when we were releasing the record and it was really interesting to sing it to an audience who didn’t immediately start singing it back to me.
“People usually can’t help themselves joining in singing it whether they love it or loathe it.”
Rick Astley performs with A-Ha at Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Perth on February 19, Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley on February 22, Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne on February 23, ICC Sydney Theatre on February 26, Bimbadgen, Hunter Valley on February 29 and Sirromet Wines, Brisbane on March 1.
Originally published as Never gonna give you up! Rick Astley on fame, Kylie Minogue and his upcoming Aussie tour