He’s the ‘one-hit wonder’ who made so much money he could retire at 27. Now, thanks to a freak moment in internet history, Rick Astley has found a whole new generation of fans who are never gonna give him up. He tells Hadley Freeman about Smiths covers and surviving a violent childhood.
As Rick Astley and I are walking out of the pub, where we have spent an extremely amiable two hours, I get a glimpse into what it’s like to be a mega-hit wonder. We pass by a group of seven people, all probably in their fifties and sixties, and all gawp at Astley. Despite being 58, he still looks extraordinarily like the 21-year-old who shot to pop immortality with one song, even down to the hair quiff that he swears is natural.
He clocks the recognition, says a friendly hello and, as he walks past, they sing — quietly at first, then more excitedly — Never Gonna Give You Up . He doesn’t even blink. Instead, he raises his hand good-naturedly and ducks out of the door.
“There have been times when I’ve completely forgotten about that part of my life. I’m on holiday with my family and buying ice creams with my daughter — ‘Two cones, please’ — and the guy starts singing Never Gonna Give You Up and I’m standing there in my trunks,” he had told me, chuckling, only moments before this. Does it irk him to be constantly shadowed by a song he first sang in 1987? “You can appreciate it, or you can let it be a stone in your shoe.
But my alternative was so shit I’m just g.