Wild rock ‘n’ roll stories… are not in this book. With the famously clean-cut reputation of the author, this is to be expected. I liked it very much, despite not knowing any of Rick Astley’s songs other than a few 80s hits. I’ll certainly be checking out his other work. As he explains in the book, as a young singer with the pop hits factory Stock, Aitken and Waterman, he felt he didn’t have control over his career, although he was grateful for the privileges of being a pop star, which took him away from a dreary fate working for his volatile father in Lancashire, northern England. Eventually he wrote and produced his own material, collaborated with other artists and had a great time at 80s nostalgia shows. Before he became famous, he was a drummer in a rock band. After he became famous, he just wanted an ordinary life as there wasn’t a lot of stability in his childhood. He focused on being a family man, before his career revival in the 2000s.
Rick talks about the huge success of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and his later bemusement at the internet phenomenon of ‘rickrolling’. The song currently has 1.5 billion views on YouTube!
The book has an easy, humble writing style. The title, Never, reflects this attitude to ‘never say never’, being open to opportunities, but also that he never guessed, given his origins, that this extraordinary pop career would happen.
Published by Macmillan, 2024. Includes a generous selection of photographs.