Rick Astley: ‘Christmas was a bit odd when I was growing up’

18 Dec 2023

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Rick Astley, who comes from Lancashire, became a popular global singer in the 1980s due to his charming character and distinct deep voice. He gained fame with his hits like "Together Forever" and his famous song "Never Gonna Give You Up".

Ten years after his retirement, he pleasantly surprised his fans by making a comeback to the music industry, thanks to the popular internet meme known as “Rickrolling”. As a result, he gained significant online attention. He managed to appeal to younger listeners by teaming up with artists such as the Foo Fighters and Bastille. Furthermore, his performance at Glastonbury was highly praised, especially when he sang covers of The Smiths songs, accompanied by the Manchester-based rock band called Blossoms.

In the month of October, he unveiled his most recent album titled 'Are We There Yet?' and it attained its highest position of No. 2 on the UK albums chart.

When I was four years old, my parents got divorced. As a result, Christmas was a bit different for me growing up. Even though my dad raised me, I spent weekends with my mother. During Christmas, we often visited my aunt's house. While it may sound like we had a luxurious lifestyle, we had a housekeeper named Mrs. Hill who would arrive early in the morning and leave after I returned from school. Despite Mrs. Hill's presence and my older sister's motherly role, our home wasn't warm and cozy.

I have fond memories of receiving a Tonka Toy as a gift when I was five years old. My father had purchased it and placed it on the refrigerator, possibly trying to compensate for his busy work schedule. Although he probably assumed that I wouldn't notice it due to my young age, I actually discovered it by standing at the back of the kitchen and gazing at it for two weeks!

I decided not to retrieve it, even though my father cared for us deeply and demonstrated his love frequently. However, his disposition was extremely negative, and he possessed a terrible temper that was frightening to confront. It was unwise to ever challenge him. Although he never acted out violently towards us, he would lash out and destroy objects in his fit of rage. So, my solution was to simply keep my distance.

These days, we try to keep things straightforward. As my wife is originally from Denmark, our daughter currently lives there. Therefore, we'll be spending roughly a week in Denmark this year to celebrate Christmas with them. To add to the excitement, our daughter and her fiancé recently moved into a new place. In Denmark, they observe Christmas Eve as the main celebration day, so that's when we'll be having our festivities.

In Denmark, Christmas celebrations are steeped in tradition and food and drink play a major role in it. Even though I'm not a wine connoisseur, I do have my preferences. I remember a production manager once telling me that we shouldn't waste time on bad wine as life is too short for that. Hence, I prefer to invest in a good bottle every now and then. As Christmas approaches, I start pondering over what culinary delights we should have. Though I don't go overboard with spending, I do believe in indulging a bit during this festive season.

I have a few Christmas songs that I really enjoy. In the past, I didn't like "Last Christmas" by Wham because I didn't like the music video that was released at the time. I also felt that George Michael's amazing voice, which I think is one of the best we've ever seen, wasn't showcased as well as it could have been. However, recently, my band and I sang the song at a party, and I grew to appreciate it a lot more. Despite having the same four chords throughout the song, the melody is truly wonderful. I now really like the song and think it's a great cheesy classic.

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I have to say, my all-time favourite Christmas tune has got to be Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." In the olden days, you wouldn't hear it until sometime in December (but now they start playing it as early as November), and once you did, you knew that the Christmas season was officially beginning. I remember performing a cover of it ourselves at the Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by a whole orchestra, and it was truly a magical experience.

Rick Astley graced the London Palladium stage for his Magic of Christmas performance.

I'm not quite sure why we haven't had a popular Christmas song in the last few years. It could be because of how music has changed. In the past, we had a few artists that everyone recognized - even if they didn't enjoy their music, they knew all of the words to their songs.

Let's say Madonna released a new track - it would be impossible to ignore and people of all ages would be familiar with the lyrics. Michael Jackson and U2 were also able to achieve this level of iconic status. However, nowadays, a song could hold the top spot on the charts for four weeks, but if you were to ask individuals of different generations - 15, 25, or 50 years old - about the song, chances are they won't recognize it. Therefore, it is important to create content that will stick in people's minds across all ages.