I’m never gonna give him up, because he’s never let me down. Yes, he did run off for a bit and desert us, even make us cry, but he didn’t say goodbye.
I have a confession to make - I was a huge fan of Rick Astley.
Never Gonna Give You Up was one of the first cassettes I was allowed to buy with my pocket money.
When I mention this to Rick, he’s momentarily stunned, before laughing: “Wow, that’s made me all fluttery inside.”
This year is the 35th anniversary of the No1 hit and I’m a little overcome by finally meeting my childhood idol.
However, Rick has a formula for meeting overwrought superfans…
He says: “Whenever I meet fans after a gig, my thing is about trying to sort of make that moment as normal as it can be. Sometimes they can be too excited, so I try to calm them down a bit.”
Rick is the Stock, Aitken and Waterman tea-boy turned pop star.
The boyish bequiffed singer with the deep soulful voice assured us he was no stranger to love despite looking like he was still at school.
Yet it worked for millions of music fans in the late 1980s after initial doubts from legendary hit makers Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman.
Rick, now 56, says: “I looked about 12 years old - with red hair, freckles, and they were just thinking, ‘How is that kid going to sell records?’”
But after the 1987 release of Rick’s debut single, the then shy 21-year-old topped the charts in 25 countries and his next seven singles made the top 10.
He also ended up rubbing shoulders with Princess Diana and collaborating with Elton John.
Rick, from Newton Le Willows, near St Helens in Merseyside, says: “It was an incredible time. I went to America and did well but I just did not have the heart and energy for it anymore.
“Take That was just emerging – we were on the same label and I thought, ‘Have I got the energy to do what they do with all the travelling and promoting?’ I just did not want to do it any more.”
After selling around 40 million records worldwide, Rick did not need to either.
He says: “I’m not embarrassed to say I made a huge amount of money. I made the kind of money where you just don’t have to think about anything anymore.
“What an amazing position to be in so I just thought if everyone is OK, I’d just like to walk off into the sunset. And my label was fine about it because they had Take That and all these new bands.”
And Rick had a new family to focus on. At the height of his “intense 15 minutes of fame” he met Lene Bausager while on a promotional trip to Denmark when she was working for his record label.
The pair hit it off but did not meet again for two years. Rick says: “We bumped into each other, and that was it. We’ve been together ever since.”
So he was Never Gonna Give Lene Up?
Rick says: “Haha. Yes, I knew we’d be Together Forever. The thing is I really respect her as a person, and of course, I still love her, and she loves me. The basis of a relationship is having a good mutual understanding - then being and staying in love is much easier. And she’s been managing me for the last ten years.”
The couple finally tied the knot in 2013.
“Our daughter, Emilie, was born early in our relationship, so that showed our strong commitment to each other,” he says.
“Marriage was just something we never got round to. But we had been engaged for a very long time, and then we just thought at some point we should do it.
“Lene was pretty chilled about it. Having a child is a bigger commitment than marriage. You can get divorced, but you will always have that child, So we both were committed to each other totally in that way. It definitely has made a difference to our relationship. I can’t put my finger on it but things feel different - in a nice way.”
Rick may have stepped out of the limelight but fame wasn’t finished with him.
In 2008 a global internet video craze which involved pranking someone with an unexpected appearance of Rick singing Never Gonna Give You Up catapulted him back into stardom. Since then this so-called Rickrolling has helped him has clock up over a billion views on YouTube and won a new generation of fans.
He says: “Back when I recorded the song I’d never have dreamed that years on, kids would be listening to it. It’s brilliant that old music can find new audience. If I go to a restaurant and I’m recognised, it is very cute because usually it’s somebody really young who has come across I’m Never Gonna Give You Up through the Rickrolling.
"They think it’s amazing to meet me, and I think it’s amazing because there is a ten-year-old kid that recognises me and he is telling his mum who I am!”
Then in 2016 unexpectedly his album 50 hit number one in the charts. Suddenly Rick was well truly cool (just as I’d always believed).
So cool, that he was soon on stage with the rock gods The Foo Fighters singing Never Gonna Give You Up - and performing their Everlong in his own sets.
Singer Dave Grohl became a good friend. He said: “Rick is the man. The seventh Foo Fighter. He’s such a sweetheart. I love that he gets nervous before playing. He’s Rick Astley! It’s like he’s Muhammad Ali!”
Last year he was touring with Blossoms - every member not far off half his age. And then this summer he was filling arenas in the US.
Rick says: “We did a tour called Mixtape. This was being in a line up with New Kids On The Block who, of course, I know from back in the day, as well as Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue.
“Coming out of Covid I was really keen to get back on stage. So we went to America and did 56 arena dates which was just mad but really great.
“It was a really fun tour - full on and exhausting. but we had a great time. We’re all a similar age in our fifties - apart from the youngest new kid Joey.”
These days Rick and Lene live in Surrey. Daughter Emilie lives in Denmark but will be flying back for Christmas and to see her dad in concert.
He says: “Emilie works as a landcape gardener, nothing to do with music. It’s a weird experience for her as she didn’t grow up seeing me at all famous.”
Rick Astley’s Swinging Christmas will see him performing swing and festive classics with a brass band and string quartet at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Tuesday and London’s Royal Albert Hall on Thursday and Friday (December 14 and 16)
He says: “I’m doing it because I really want to do it. Doing those gigs in America was amazing but as soon as I came back I was thinking ‘right we need to go to the other end of the spectrum - do something that is so super cosy’. It’s about playing in the most beautiful venues we have in this country and just doing a few gigs before Christmas for me will be, maybe selfishly, the perfect way to end the year.”
It’s hard to imagine Rick with a 30-year-old daughter. He looks fresh faced for 56. What is his secret?
“A stress-free life - which I appreciate not everyone can have, “ he answers. “I’ve been very lucky. I see how hard it is for people to survive just to pay the bills. It makes me very grateful and humble that I can go back on stage and genuinely love what I am doing.
"The world is in a bit of a mess right now, and I think people should do whatever they can to enjoy this Christmas. And if you are able to come to the gigs, I will do my best to take your mind off things for a little bit.”
- Tickets for Rick Astley’s Swinging Christmas running on Tues Dec 13 to Friday Dec 16 are available now at gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk
