What Ever Happened to Rick Astley?

No, you have not been "Rick-Rolled"... this is a serious question.

I remember when I first heard "Never Gonna Give You Up" back in '86. I thought, hmmm, pretty cool song. Then I saw him on MTV and was like, "Whoa! This guy looks twelve! Where'd he get a voice like that?!?"

Now he's become this big joke, "Rick-Rolled", etc... and I'm wondering what happened to him.

So I googled. Here's the answer:

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Born Richard Paul Astley in 1966, he was brought up in the small town of Newton-Le-Willows in Lancashire.

Left school at 16 and later drove a delivery van for his family's garden centre business.

Formed a band called Give Way with friends and later joined a band called FBI who released a single called "Car Jam".

Pete Waterman heard Rick singing in 1985 in Warrington and invited him to work at his studio. This involved various jobs including making the tea.

Released the single "Never Gonna Give You Up" in the summer of 1987 which went to number one in the UK and was the biggest selling single of the year.

He then released the single "Whenever You Need Somebody" followed by an album of the same name.

He also had hit singles with "When I Fall In Love", "Together Forever", "She Wants To Dance With Me" and a second album "Hold Me In Your Arms".

After saying he wanted to be considered a serious singer/songwriter, he split from his producers, Stock, Aitken and Waterman and went on to release a third album called "Free".

His single "Never Knew Love" peaked at number 70 in 1991.

In 1993, he released the album "Body And Soul" which along with a couple of singles, flopped in the UK, but was fairly successful in America.

He then disappeared from the public eye in the 1990s amidst rumours that he couldn't handle the fame.

After living in Gloucestershire for a couple of years, Rick settled down in Richmond in Surrey with his Danish girlfriend Lene Bausager. They now have a daughter called Emilie.

Recorded demos in his studio in Fulham.

After being out of the public eye for 8 years, in 2002 he released the album "Keep It On" and a Greatest Hits album shortly after.

Following his sell-out UK tour of 2004, Rick has signed a recording deal with Sony BMG and in September 2005 is due to release a new album.

Rick will be singing live at the Henley Music and Arts Festival in July 2005 and will be touring the UK later in the year.

In February, you can hear Rick on Ken Bruce's morning show on Radio 2 and he will also join the BBC Concert Orchestra on the programme "Friday Night Is Music Night" in the same month.

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In the meantime, enjoy this:

Do you know he just won Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards?

You owe me $5. I caught the big fish....again

Really? Wow.

for some reason i cant stand that song "never gonna give you up" anymore. as a child i didnt mind it but it got played to death over here. good to see hes still doing his thing.

I hate that he has been considered a joke. The guy had a really good voice. Very distinctive.

He morphed into Robin Thicke.
Ba dum dum!

http://bringvictory.com/

there's a really nice interview with him here.

MagnificentVoodoo said:

http://bringvictory.com/

there's a really nice interview with him here.

Prince use to have balls....now he has religion. - Nothinbutjoy

this review of his career is a bit out of date. About 2 years ago he released "Portrait", an album of covers... not bad in my opinion. It included the song Vincent by.... I can't remember

tritoncin said:

A Rick Astley thread that I didn't create

I saw him recently, the best act ever (lol). Such a cutie.

daPrettyman said:

http://www.rickastley.co.uk/

http://www.liveleak.com/v...1189811658

tritoncin said:

June7 said:

tritoncin said:

this review of his career is a bit out of date. About 2 years ago he released "Portrait", an album of covers... not bad in my opinion. It included the song Vincent by.... I can't remember

So, update us! Is there something new that I missed in my google search?

I knew together forever and never gonna give you up for many years and always thought they were so irritating and sounded alike. I even saw a rick astley lunchbox a few years ago at a store and cracked up

alphastreet said:

Jestyr said:

June7 said:

So, update us! Is there something new that I missed in my google search?

Um...yeah, the official site that I posted above.

Oh my lord.


This is definitely going on my end of Year Report card thread!



Wasn't he that skinny kid with a deep voice?

Moonbeam said:

PANDURITO said:

Do you know he just won Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards?

June7 said:

He was just on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

You don't need directions and you don't need cash. From your Jimmy Choos to your Ultralash. ~ Prince
And when the groove is dead and gone, you know that Love survives so we can rock FOREVER. ~ RIP MJ

SCNDLS said:

He was just on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Prince.org is a cemetery where folks mourn Prince instead of celebrate him and his music. Last time I checked, Prince isn't dead yet.

purplecam said:

SCNDLS said:

He was just on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

I just saw him there too. I was like WTF?

You don't need directions and you don't need cash. From your Jimmy Choos to your Ultralash. ~ Prince
And when the groove is dead and gone, you know that Love survives so we can rock FOREVER. ~ RIP MJ

In all its cringeworthy glory!

http://www.youtube.com/wa...bfNgekJG4M

Rico said:

VenusBlingBling said:

Rico said:

In all its cringeworthy glory!

http://www.youtube.com/wa...bfNgekJG4M

I can't believe he did that! There's something very wrong about it
But I'm glad to see he's getting more attention now, he deserves it being one of the mosty underrated artists I know.