Rick Astley: ‘I was sure Glastonbury would be an embarrassment’

Rick Astley On Embracing His Cultural Notoriety: 'From Shame To Fame At Glastonbury'

Astley, who is still surprised to have been named the King of Glastonbury, discussed the challenges of fame in the later stages of his career and his belief that the Smiths might be perplexed by his choice of cover songs.

Rick Astley strolls across Hampton Court Bridge wearing a casual blue linen jacket, sneakers, and AirPods. His stylish quiff swings in the cool autumn wind, resembling an elegant, auburn-haired city-dwelling Tintin. Upon reaching my table outside a sophisticated hotel, he greets me, "Hi, I'm Rick."

When he arrived, it wasn't like he was some famous rockstar. This isn't all that shocking since he had his most famous song - "Never Gonna Give You Up" produced by Stock Aitken Waterman - almost 40 years ago and it was a hit in 25 countries. But despite all this, Astley, who is now 57 years old, is having quite the moment. At this year's Glastonbury Festival, he was the star player not once but twice.

Rick Astley rocked a huge crowd of 60,000 people at the Pyramid Stage on Saturday morning, before taking to a packed tent in the afternoon to perform an energetic set of Smiths covers alongside indie band Blossoms. It was an extremely well received performance by the former pop star, who is now gearing up for his biggest ever UK arena tour in February. Despite some critics scoffing at his rise to fame, there is no denying that Astley is becoming somewhat of a national treasure. Some people may have expected him to arrive in a fancy car, but he kept it low-key.

Astley is feeling a bit surprised by what happened at Glastonbury. He's currently seated in the library of a hotel and says that he was expecting things to go badly. When he looked out at the crowd in front of the Pyramid stage, he was taken aback because only 35 minutes before, there weren't many people there at all. His wife, Lene, manages him, and they both were thinking that the performance would either be great or terrible. At the time, they were leaning towards it being terrible, but it ended up being the opposite.

There were many factors that contributed to the success of the set, but one of the most significant was the ability to relieve hangovers through a powerful and joyful singalong in the sunshine. Rick Astley has become popular and respected among two different generations: those who remember his appearance on Top of the Pops in 1987, when he wore a double-breasted blazer and enchanted audiences with his soulful voice, and their children, who know him through the notorious “RickRolling” prank, in which a fake hyperlink unexpectedly leads to the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up (which has been viewed 1.4 billion times on YouTube). Both groups were eager to see him perform. Rick himself has attributed some of his success to luck, and stresses that sometimes things just go your way.

There are more reasons why he is a great performer. He has a talented band, and he is confident and knows how to make fun of himself. He understands that he used to make music that was artificially created and can't be too serious about his current work. He even used the exaggerated Star Wars theme as his entrance music. He says he has to have something a bit silly, or it won't be the same as his opening with the famous, but cheesy 1988 hit Together Forever. Although people might call him the "King of Glasto," he finds it hard to understand and describe how it feels.

Astley's new album, "Are We There Yet?" is a refreshing take on modern soul, paying tribute to soul legends Bill Withers, Al Green, and Marvin Gaye. It even channels the smooth soul-funk of Michael Kiwanuka on tracks like "Never Gonna Stop." When compared to Marvin Gaye, Astley admits that influence is like a simmering soup that continues to develop over time, and he is a fan of Kiwanuka's work. Astley has taken on the role of producer and musician for his past three albums, recording most of the instruments at his home studio in west London.

Rick Astley found inspiration for his latest album while touring in the United States with New Kids on the Block, En Vogue, and Salt-N-Pepa. During the tour, Astley traveled over 22,000 miles by bus, zig-zagging across the country and immersing himself in traditional soul and roots music. The experience left a lasting impression on him, and he returned home with a newfound appreciation for these respected music genres. Astley describes himself as straddling two worlds, balancing his love for upbeat pop hits from the Eighties with his newfound respect for more serious and revered musical forms.

If Rick Astley doesn't think it's a problem, then neither should we. According to him, people don't even take bathroom breaks during his new songs at his shows. His album 50 reached the top spot on the charts in 2016. Astley has managed to bridge the gap between sincerity and irony. I've even witnessed die-hard rave buddies dancing to his music in a carefree manner at 2 am! Even Astley's friend, Dave Grohl, frontman of Foo Fighters, referred to him as a "badass motherf--ker." He is no longer the target of jokes, but instead, Rick Astley is now considered part of our cultural legacy.

Rick Astley was born in 1966 in Newton-le-Willows and grew up in a big family. When he was 16, he left school and pursued his passion for music by singing and playing the drums in bands called “Give Way” and “FBI”. These bands played in clubs across the north of England. Eventually, Astley caught the eye of Pete Waterman, a famous music producer. Waterman offered Astley a recording contract and he went to work at Stock Aitken Waterman’s (SAW) studio in Borough, London where he learned the tricks of the music trade. Interestingly enough, Waterman had also signed another member of FBI, a guitarist named David Morris, who is now a member of Parliament for Morecambe and Lunesdale and a member of the Conservative party.

During the mid-Eighties, pop music was dominated by the SAW "hit factory," which produced tracks for artists like Astley, Kylie Minogue, and Bananarama. Some people thought this music was low-quality and manufactured, while others saw it as a well-oiled production line reminiscent of Motown. SAW's signature sound was created using a Linn 9000 drum machine and a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer for bass. They even had a special cartridge for the DX7 with programmed sounds that was kept under tight security measures. Anyone who tried to remove it from the room risked severe consequences, including arrest.

I presented Astley with an interview he did for Smash Hits in October 1987, right after he became the top star of SAW. In the interview, he talked about his childhood, including stories of bicycle mishaps and kissing girls. It was a light-hearted interview that wasn't meant to be taken too seriously. I asked Astley if he was bothered by being seen as a pop star churned out by SAW. He confirmed that he was aware of how people saw him, but it didn't trouble him.

He expressed that he had gone through a similar experience as Whitney Houston in which his uniqueness was disregarded to produce a one-size-fits-all image. The label he was signed to in the US, headed by Clive Davis, was responsible for this. He believed that the production team he worked with, SAW, desired recognition from the music industry but didn't receive it. However, they continued to achieve massive success despite the lack of acceptance. In Astley's opinion, the most significant difference between SAW and Motown is that SAW didn't have iconic names like Gaye, Ross, or Wonder. Nevertheless, he noted that finding such artists is a rarity.

Astley had a successful music career at the beginning but decided to quit in 1993 as people's interest in his music declined. He attempted a comeback in the 2000s, but it wasn't successful. However, in recent years, his career has taken off once again. Surprisingly, his upcoming album, "Are We There Yet?", reflects his contemplation about his future in the music industry. He has discussed with his wife how long he wants to continue in the industry, how long it will support him, and how long he can physically keep up with it. He is uncertain about going on a three-month tour at his age of 57, even if he were travelling in a private jet, as it's not something he wants to do every day.

Astley hasn't declared that he's retiring, but he's currently faced with a decision. He enjoyed putting on some swing performances last year and would like to work with an outside producer. However, he's also aware of how streaming has changed the music industry. As he puts it, "I'm not sure where artists like me fit into the streaming world because we don't really do that well." For instance, his album 50 only sold 400,000 CDs. "That's a lot of plastic!" he jokes. "We won't be selling physical copies this time around." Astley acknowledges that he might be speaking too frankly and potentially hurting his own career, but he's intrigued by how music is constantly changing.

It's possible that there'll be more concerts featuring "Smiths" and Blossoms, but nothing is confirmed. Astley hasn't had a conversation with the real Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr, about the idea, but he can imagine that Marr might be confused. Apparently, Marr was a little upset when he spotted Blossoms at a Manchester City football game as the collaboration was getting started, but they didn't mention their involvement with Astley on the Smiths project.

The vocalist affirms that it wasn't just a casual meeting with Johnny Marr where he suddenly dropped the news that they might be doing some shows where they cover The Smiths. Moreover, the Blossoms frontman mentions that Marr was highly admired by the band. Even so, Marr has stated that he has no objection to covers bands or Astley. However, at the Glastonbury festival, while Astley and Blossoms were performing together, Marr was quite far away performing with The Pretenders and not paying attention to their set.

Astley is not interested in politics and finds everything confusing. However, he believes that HS2 has always been a waste of money (we spoke just before Rishi Sunak canceled it). Instead, he suggests that we should invest in building 20 hospitals and staffing them for 20 years.

He acknowledges how fortunate he is and feels grateful for it. He looks back at his life and realizes that singing some pop songs by Stock Aitken Waterman has been the reason for his stress-free and smooth-sailing life. He finds it strange and almost unbelievable that his life could have taken a completely different path if he had not sung those songs. This thought scares him, and he fears that he might wake up one day to discover that his life has been different and extremely challenging.

Today marks the release of Are We There Yet? on BMG.