Who doesn't remember hearing or dancing to Never Gonna Give You Up? His first single from 1987 elevated Rick Astley, who turns 60 on Friday, February 6, as one of the icons of pop music since it reached the top positions on music charts in 25 countries.
At that time, he was 21 years old and became a millionaire. He left behind an unhappy childhood because he witnessed how his father mistreated his mother and how he lost emotional connection with them due to the death of his brother David from meningitis before Rick was born. He is the youngest of five siblings. His parents divorced when he was four years old.
Since his father had a gardening business, he obtained custody of the children, so his mother went to live with her grandmother. Gradually, the relationship between them deteriorated.
"I think my brother's death shaped me as a person and had to do with my decision to get into music, why I wanted to be on stage and why I wanted people's attention because I think I didn't receive enough attention from my parents," he confessed in an interview on the occasion of the publication of his memoirs Never: The Autobiography.
Living in a permanent sadness motivated the youngest of the family to be interested in the world of entertainment, although the truth is that this interest was in his blood because his mother was a pianist and his father had an incredible voice. As he has also confessed on more than one occasion, music freed him from the emotional burden of the family. Over time, Rick stated that he does not hold a grudge against his parents for the lack of affection and interest because after David's death, they started to function as if they were on autopilot.
Rick started singing in the church choir in Lancashire, at school discos, and local contests until the producer Pete Waterman led him down the professional path. Thanks to him, he released Never Gonna Give You Up. At 21, he triumphed greatly.
Not only did he start earning huge amounts of money, but he also found love with Lene Bausager, who worked as a promoter for his record label RCA. They started dating formally in 1989.
"I fell in love with her the day I met her. I saw her briefly again a few weeks later in London, and a year later having a cup of tea during a tour in Denmark. We started writing to each other, and I accumulated large phone bills calling her from all over the world," he confessed to the Sydney Morning Herald.
With Never Gonna Give You Up, the artist became known worldwide. He took trains and planes non-stop, barely spending more than two consecutive nights in the same place, and fame began to overwhelm him. He was grateful to his fans, but for him, forming a family was much more important. Therefore, in 1993, at 27, he made a drastic decision: "I slipped out the back door when no one was looking and no one cared."
Having earned enough money to not worry and be happy, in 1992 his only daughter, Emily, was born, who lives in Denmark where she works as a garden landscaper. Rick was very clear that he wanted to be present in every moment of his daughter's childhood and give her all the affection he had lacked.
After staying away from music between 1994 and 2000, Astley recorded Keep It Turned On and released his first compilation, Greatest Hits. But he took his comeback very calmly since until 2023 he only recorded five albums in total. The latest one is Are We There Yet?
In 2007, unintentionally, he became a trending topic as he was the subject of a trolling meme called rickrolling, which consisted of tricking someone into clicking on an interesting topic in a fake link, but which actually redirected to the suggestive hip-swaying music video of Never Gonna Give You Up.
After 27 years of relationship, 15 of which were engaged, Rick and Lena discreetly married in 2016 thanks to their daughter's request.