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Rick Astley

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Rick Astley was born in 1966 in Newton-le-Willows, in the English county of Lancashire. With Never Gonna Give You Up (1987) he made the best-known product of the production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. Twenty years later the song found a second life as an internet joke, which makes Astley an example of how a hit from the 1980s can start circulating again in the digital age.

Music and breakthrough

Astley first drummed in the local soul band FBI and became its singer. Pete Waterman saw him perform in a nightclub in Warrington and brought him to his studio, PWL. There Astley started out as a tea boy and tape operator before he was allowed to sing himself. Never Gonna Give You Up was released in July 1987. Waterman came up with the title and the idea, while Mike Stock and Matt Aitken wrote the melody, chords and lyrics. The bass comes from a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, the drums from a Linn 9000. Stock said that Trapped (1985) by Colonel Abrams was a major influence. The song spent five weeks at number one in the UK, became the best-selling single of 1987 there and topped the charts in about 25 countries, including the United States. The album Whenever You Need Somebody sold some fifteen million copies worldwide. In 1988 he had another American number one with Together Forever.

Influence

In 1993 Astley stopped in order to be with his family. From 2007 his video became the core of rickrolling: a link that promises something else but leads to this clip. In 2021 the video passed a billion views on YouTube. His album 50 (2016) entered at number one in the UK.

Listening

Listening tip. In Never Gonna Give You Up (1987), listen for the jumping bass line from the Yamaha DX7, which Mike Stock built on the model of Trapped by Colonel Abrams. Notice how Astley's deep, mature voice sits on top of it, even though he was only 21 in the video.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (en): Rick Astley
  2. Wikipedia (en): Never Gonna Give You Up
Categories: ArtistsBritish Eurobeat (Stock Aitken Waterman)