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Rick AstleyCry For HelpHold Me In Your ArmsNever Gonna Give You UpWhenever You Need Somebody
After retiring from the music industry in 1993, Astley made a comeback in 2007 when he became an Internet phenomenon, as his video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" became part of a popular Internet meme known as "Rickrolling".[6] Astley was voted "Best Act Ever" by Internet users at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008. Richard Paul Astley was born on 6 February 1966
in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England, becoming the fourth
child of his family. His parents divorced when he was five, and
Astley was brought up by his father.[8] His musical career started
when he was ten, singing in the local church choir.[9] During his
schooldays, Astley formed and played the drums in a number of local
bands, where he met guitarist David Morris.[2][10] After leaving
school at sixteen, Astley was employed during the day as a driver
in his father's market-gardening business and played drums on the
Northern club circuit at night in bands such as “Give Way” - specialising
in covering Beatles and Shadows songs - and “FBI”, which won several
local talent competitions.[9] In 1985, Astley was performing as a drummer with
a soul band named FBI, with Morris on guitar. They were a well
known local band writing and performing their own music, gigging
in pubs and clubs. When FBI's lead singer left the band, and Morris
left to concentrate on his career in hairdressing,[10] Astley offered
to be the lead vocalist. This was when he was noticed by the record
producer Pete Waterman, who persuaded him to come to London to
work at the PWL recording studio,[2] with RCA Records publishing
his records. Under the tutelage of the production team of Mike
Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, known as Stock Aitken Waterman,
Astley was taught about the recording process and groomed for his
future career, supposedly starting off as the recording studio
'tea boy'.[11] The reason for Astley to be hired initially as a
'tape op', was to overcome his shyness.[12] SAW also hired most
of FBI, including Morris as a guitarist/songwriter.[10] His first single was the little-known "When You Gonna", released as a collaboration with Lisa Carter, with little promotion. It did not chart. His first solo offering was "Never Gonna Give You Up", recorded on New Year's Day 1987, and released eight months later, in August. Astley's distinctive rich, deep voice combined with dance pop, made the song an immediate success,[13] spending five weeks at the top of the British charts and becoming the year's highest-selling single. The song was also a worldwide number one hit, topping the charts in 24 other countries, including the U.S., Australia, and Germany. It would become the first of 13 (worldwide) top 30 hit singles for him. "Never Gonna Give You Up" won Best British single at the 1988 BPI awards (now called the BRIT Awards),[14] and he performed the hit in front of a global audience of 100 million.[2][15] His next single was "Whenever You Need Somebody", which was released in October. The single was a recycled Stock, Aitken, Waterman song, originally recorded by O'Chi Brown in 1985. It became a successful European hit, reaching #1 in seven countries, including Germany and Sweden, following up the success of his debut single. It also reached #3 in the UK. It was not released in North America.[16] In November 1987, the album Whenever You Need Somebody, containing four Astley written tracks, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, and #10 in the U.S. It was certified 4x Platinum in the UK and Canada, and 2x Platinum in the US. Overall Whenever You Need Somebody sold 15.2 million copies worldwide, making him the top selling British act of the year.[2] In the run up to Christmas 1987, Astley released a cover version of the Nat King Cole classic "When I Fall in Love". This single is mainly remembered for a closely fought contest for UK Christmas Number 1. Rivals EMI hoping to see their act, the Pet Shop Boys, reach #1, re-released the version by Nat King Cole.[17][18] This led to a slow down of purchases of Astley's version, allowing the Pet Shop Boys to reach the coveted top spot. Despite selling over 200,000 copies and gaining a Silver certification from the BPI,[19] it peaked in the UK at #2 for two weeks. The re-release of Nat King Cole's version reached #4. The B side was a dance number "My Arms Keep Missing You", which was successful in Mainland Europe. Astley's fourth single release would be "Together Forever" in 1988, reaching #2 in the UK. It was denied the top spot by Neighbours sensation Kylie Minogue's debut "I Should Be So Lucky".[20] "Together Forever" was more successful state-side, topping the U.S charts, making it his second U.S chart topper, which meant Astley was one of the few British acts to crack the American market. In 1989 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, but lost to Tracy Chapman. His fifth and final release from his debut album was "It Would Take a Strong Strong Man". It was a more soulful song, when compared to his other releases, and was mainly intended for the North American market. Thus, it was not released in Britain. It was another hit for Astley, reaching #10 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100, and #1 in Canada. During the period between his debut release and his fifth single, Astley outsold every other artist in the world.[21] In the UK, he was in the Top 40 every week for the first 6 months of his career.[2] A fire in the PWL studios destroyed much of Astley's
new material,[2] causing a delay in the release of his second album.
Hold Me In Your Arms was eventually released in January 1989, containing
five singles, and reached #8 in the UK and #19 in the US, being
certified Platinum in the UK and Gold in the US. Astley's relationship with British media, deteriorated significantly after the release of Whenever You Need Somebody, with the media calling him a 'puppet' of Stock Aitken Waterman.[14] This was despite Astley writing five of his new album's tracks. The negative press inevitably affected the sales of his singles.[22] The first single from the album to be released was "She Wants To Dance With Me", a number penned by Astley himself. It was another successful single reaching #6 in both the UK and US charts. "Take Me to Your Heart" was the next single to be released from the album. It reached #8 in the UK and was not released in the US. The Astley written ballad "Hold Me in Your Arms" reached #10 in the UK and was also not released in North America. The next two singles released from the album were intended for the North American market. "Giving Up On Love" and a cover of The Temptations song "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" charted #38 and #89 in the US respectively. In December 1989, Astley set off on his first
world tour, touring 15 countries including the UK, US, Australia,
and Japan.[2] By the end of the tour, Astley was tiring of the
negative press, and wanted to explore alternate paths as a musician.
Thus, he left his producers Stock Aitken Waterman, with RCA records
buying out his contract with PWL. By 1990, Astley had parted company with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman. He also decided to leave his dance-pop days behind him, moving towards his passion, soul. This shift in musical genre lead him to change his image too, ditching the boy next door look, presenting himself as a mature and passionate musician. His third album, Free, was released in 1991 containing collaborations with Elton John.[14] The album contained three singles, and reached #9 in the UK and #31 in the US. He achieved one more major success with the 1991 ballad "Cry for Help", which reached #7 in both the UK and the US. This would place Astley in The Guinness Book of Records, as he became the first male solo to have his first eight singles to all chart in the UK Top 10. This record still stands to this day.[2] The other two singles from Free were not as successful. "Move Right Out" reached #58 in the UK and #81 in the US; and "Never Knew Love" reached #70 in the UK and did not chart in the US. Free would mark the end of Astley's successful period, and "Cry For Help" would be the last Astley single to make the Top 10 in either the UK or US (as of May 2010). His next album, Body and Soul, was released in
1993, and was largely an Adult Contemporary album. By the time
the album was released, Astley decided to retire from the music
industry. As a result, the album did not get a lot of promotion,[2]
not charting in the UK but managing to make the Billboard 200,
peaking at #182. The two singles, "The Ones You Love" and "Hopelessly", performed very well on the US adult contemporary chart, peaking at #19 and
#4 respectively. "The Ones You Love" peaked at #48 in the UK but did not chart in the US. "Hopelessly" also crossed over and peaked at #28 on the US Billboard 100, staying in the
US top 40 for five weeks, and #33 in the UK. It was named as one
of the most performed songs at the 1994 BMI Awards,[23] and is
one of the few songs to achieve BMI 'Million-Air' status.[24] After 1993, Astley decided to retire from the
music industry at the young age of 27 deciding that family life
was more important. During Astley's time out of the music business,
he raised his daughter Emilie, born in 1992. Thus, for much of
the 1990s and early 2000s, Astley remained largely out of the spotlight.
One notable musical appearance by Astley during retirement was
as a backing singer on The Lion King soundtrack in 1994.[11] Almost 10 years after Body and Soul, Astley finally returned to the music world signing a co-publishing deal with Polydor and released Keep It Turned On in 2002. The album featured the single "Sleeping", which became a minor club hit, thanks to a set of remixes from U.S. house producer Todd Terry. Keep It Turned On was only released in Continental Europe.[2] Astley's first compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in 2002, and reached 16 on the UK Albums Chart. With no promotion from Astley, it sold over 100,000 copies and was certified Gold by the BPI.[2] After retirement in 1993, Astley continued to song write for various acts and in 2003 he managed to chart at #10 in the UK as a songwriter with "Shakespeare's (Way With) Words" performed by short lived boyband One True Voice. In 2004, Astley toured for the first time in 14
years, which lead him to a record contract with Sony BMG.[2] In
March 2005, Astley released the album Portrait in which he covered
many classic standards such as "Vincent",[25] "Nature Boy" and "Close to You". Both Astley and Sony BMG were unhappy with the end result so the album was
poorly promoted,[2] yet managed to reach 26 on the UK Albums Chart. In April 2008, the album "The Ultimate Collection: Rick Astley" was released by Sony BMG and by early May it had reached #17 on the UK Top 40 Albums Chart,[26] again with no promotion from Astley. In September 2008, Rick was nominated for the 'Best Act Ever' award at the MTV Europe Music Awards[7] The push to make Astley the winner of the award continued after the announcement, as well as efforts to encourage MTV to personally invite Astley to the awards ceremony.[27] On 7 November, following a massive internet campaign by fans, Rick won the award in Liverpool, but was not there in person to receive it. Perez Hilton collected the prize on his behalf.[28] On the back of this, "Never Gonna Give You Up" returned to the UK charts, over 21 years after it was released, peaking at #73 during the Christmas period. During the late 2000s, Astley continued touring
across the globe, touring with various other 80s acts, such as
Boy George and Belinda Carlisle in the Here and Now Tour.[2] In
April 2009, he wrote an article for Time about moot.[29] Astley was a special guest throughout Peter Kay's new tour, The Tour That Doesn't Tour Tour...Now On Tour, from 27 April to 22 May 2010. To mark the occasion, Rick Astley released a new single "Lights Out" on his own label. It was released on 7 June 2010.[30] This was Astley's first release in the UK Singles Chart in 17 years. It was well received by radio peaking #15 on the UK Airplay Charts, but failed to become a commercial hit, reaching only #97 on the UK Singles Chart. During the summer 2010, Astley became a radio
DJ for London's Magic FM, presenting a Sunday show.[31][32] Initially
the contract was 8 weeks but he proved popular with listeners and
his contract was extended till the end of the year.[33] In December
2010, Astley co-hosted with Peter Kay the Chris Evans Breakfast
Show on BBC Radio 2,[34] and in March 2011 appeared in Comic Relief's
Red Nose Day telethon on the BBC.[35][36] Rick Astley is married to Lene Bausager, and the
couple have one daughter, Emilie, who was born in 1992. Astley
met Lene when she was working as a promoter with RCA in 1988.[8]
Lene is a film producer, and was nominated for the 2006 Academy
Award for Best Live Action Short Film for the Sean Ellis film Cashback,
where she was the main producer.[37][38] The family lives in the
London suburb of Richmond, Surrey.[39] Canada Top data: for singles and albums from The
Record magazine. US Top data: for singles from The Billboard Hot
100, for albums from The Billboard 200; UK Top data for singles
and albums is from UK Singles Chart. Based on various music charts
in the UK, US and Canada, Astley has charted a grand total of 14
different hit singles and 6 different hit albums, as of April 2010. Whenever You Need Somebody (1987) Rickroll internet phenomenon In 2007,[40] Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme known as Rickrolling. This is where internet users are tricked into watching Rick Astley's video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by following a link that claims to be something else.[41] Views of this video on various websites are now in their millions. The phenomenon became so popular that on 1 April 2008, YouTube pranked its users by making every single featured video on its front page a Rickroll.[42] On November 27, 2008, Astley himself participated in a live Rickroll during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends characters were singing "Best Friend", the theme from the 1970s TV series The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Midway through the song, Astley emerged from the float and began to lip sync his signature hit. At the end of Astley's performance, Cheese (a character from Foster's) shouted out "I like Rickrolling!".[43][44] Despite the video garnering millions of hits on YouTube, Astley has earned almost no money from the meme, receiving only US$12 in royalties from YouTube for his performance share.
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