NO RICKROLL
’80s star Astley is back with new songs
Flashes of fame can make people bitter. Remember when Vanilla Ice trashed that MTV set with a baseball bat when the channel decided to quit airing his “Ice Ice Baby” video? While it's not completely accurate to call Rick Astley a flash in the pan (in his native England, he scored eight Top 10 hits), the pop soul singer never eclipsed his first U.S. hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
But Astley feels blessed, not bitter.
“I've never fallen out of love with the music, but being a pop star burns you out,” he said ahead of his House of Blues show tomorrow night. “But I've always been happy with my career and life.”
Even when Rickrolling, the practicing of tricking someone into clicking on a link to the “Never Gonna Give You Up” video, dominated the internet in 2008?
“I remember my daughter, who was 15 or 16 at the time, told me, `Dad, this could have happened to anyone. Don't try to use it. Just let it do its thing,'” he said. “Because I didn't use it or fight it, I think it benefited me. Then, at one point, I just had to jump on it and do it at the (2008) Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.”
Rickrolling put Astley back into the mainstream, but for years he was silent.
When he tired of the music business in 1993 after four albums, he quit cold turkey. He retreated to suburban life with his wife — 27 years and counting — and enjoyed raising his kid. After nearly a decade off, he began dabbling in music with a covers album and sporadic tour dates. Now, new album “50” heralds a full-fledged return.
“I knew that I was turning 50 soon and, well, that's something,” he said. “When I would do these gigs, I'd have people asking for new songs, actually requesting I write and sing new songs. That's such a really precious thing to hear. At my age, I thought nobody would care about new music from me. I was wrong.”
Very wrong: “50” hit No. 1 as soon as it was released in June in the United Kingdom and has since gone gold.
On his first release in 11 years, Astley wrote, produced and performed all the instruments on the 12-track album.
“It was a lot of work,” he said. “Well, it depends what you call work. I loved the work.”
The material has a few dance beats that will sound familiar to fans of “Together Forever” and “Never Gonna Give You Up.” But there is a clear gospel influence on the songs. Led by his huge voice, he injects the album opener, “Keep Singing,” with a grand church choir. On later tracks, he mixes disco with a soulful chorus (“Angels on My Side”) and tells a tale of God treating the devil's blues by giving him a Motownstyle groove (“Dance”).
“It's not a religious record. My faith is in us, in people,” he said. “But I have always loved the soul of gospel. ... At my home studio, I had the windows open and could hear a church choir singing one morning, and I put that feeling into the record.”
With the success of “50,” Astley is busier than he's been since the early '90s. He's happy to be so, but is also fine with retreating back to the 'burbs when he has to.
“My wife, who is my manager, and I are just trying to let it happen and enjoy life,” he said. “We've been married 27 years, so we need to put these little breaks in the calendars and have time for us. And if I'm brutally honest, I'm not 21 anymore. Back then, I didn't need sleep, I didn't need anything. Now I need a rest and good glass of red wine every so often.”
Rick Astley, at House of Blues, tomorrow. Tickets: $26; livenation. com.