Rick Astley talks about being an 80s icon, his Beautiful Life and tour stopping in Birmingham

He’s the most popular man in pop. Not that Rick Astley would accept the title. To him, he’s just doing his job, having a bit of fun, making hay while the sun shines and being ever aware that his present run of platinum-coated form will come to an end at some point because that’s what happens in the music industry.

But, hey, it’s not over yet and at 52-years-young, Rick is not merely still in the game; he’s ahead of the pack and beating all-comers. His last album, 50, debuted at number one in the UK chart and earned him a platinum disc for racking up 300,000 sales. His new album, Beautiful Life, was released in the middle of July and has propelled him back into pop’s super league. He’s looking ahead to playing his own arena tour later this year and life’s more fun than it’s ever been.

Now deep into middle age, Rick no longer has the pressures that come with being a 20-something pop star. The weight of expectation doesn’t sit heavy on his shoulders. He’s not in it for the money – he doesn’t need to be, having squirreled away a few bob after selling approximately 40 million records worldwide. He’s in it because he loves making music. He’s in it because he loves singing and having a good time.

“I’m very excited,” he says. “I’m in Ibiza right now . . .” and then he stops for a second and imagines the picture he’s creating. “I’m not going clubbing,” he laughs, in his working class Lancastrian drawl. “We’re just having a few days away before the madness starts with the new record.”

The new record is Beautiful Life, a record that came about following the success of 2016’s 50. The plan had been for Rick to work with a bunch of top songwriters and producers to create some sort of pop perfection. Instead, he did it himself. Not that he planned to do so, that’s just the way things turned out.

“I’ve written a bunch of songs and I just want people to like them. These past few years have been great. It’s been dreamlike. The new record is mine. I played it all and did it all.”

Rick became fully immersed, paying attention to every last detail of the record. “I’m reading Brian Wilson’s autobiography right now and can understand how people get lost in things.”

The opportunity to release his second album in as many years came about because of the success of 50.

“The whole 50 project was amazing but I’m not getting carried away. There was goodwill and empathy from the public and the media and maybe there was also an element of surprise. I really liked the record and really enjoyed making it again.

“I guess if a record is going to hang about there has to be something going on. But I know it’s just as easy for records to slip out of view. I can think of lots of records in my collection that did nothing. You have to have everybody on side. You have to have it all working. I never take my eye off the fact that it’s not just me. There’s a team and everyone has to do their bit to get a record noticed. But you have to make something worth listening to as well. Even huge artists making records that aren’t very good but have a million promo budget get found out. There has to be some good songs.”

Rick is conscious that the clock is ticking on a career that started back in 1985 and ran until he walked away in 1993. He re-emerged, refreshed and renewed, in 2001. And though things have frankly never been better, he makes it a priority to stay in the moment and enjoy whatever comes his way.

“I don’t want to get all ageist, I’m only 52 and not an old man. But I know I’m not a young kid and these days I want to have ownership of what I do. I kind of think being realistic, when you reach my age you don’t know how many more records you will make. There’s a song on the record called Last Night on Earth and I guess that’s where I’m at. I don’t want to preach to people. The song is really a message to myself. I’m saying ‘look, man, live like it’s the last night on Earth because who knows what will happen’.

“I’m just saying enjoy the moments. I might not have a record deal in 12 months and I might not be doing stuff. The rules that applied yesterday are no longer the rules that apply today.”

Rick’s new record was written completely under the radar. His wife, Lene, who manages him, had flown to America to look at a project. A film producer with an Oscar nomination for her 2006 short film, Cashback, she’d left Rick to look after their daughter in South West London.

He went into his home studio with a bunch of ideas. He’d previously spoken to his record label and to Lene about his next project. “The idea had been to write with other people and work with different producers. When I started, I was just going into my room and enjoying myself. Music’s my hobby. I did that a couple of times, travelled a bit and then realised I’d built up a collection of songs.

“So I just thought ‘sod it, I’ll record them myself, I’ll have a go’. If it hadn’t have worked out, I’d have gone with producers and writers. But I felt comfortable and happy. I produced it and finished it and liked the way it sounded. I went to the record label and told them I thought I’d make a record. They were surprised. So I mixed a few songs and even though it wasn’t properly finished, they liked it. They said we ought to release it and go back to the idea of using other writers and producers another time. They heard Beautiful Life and instantly thought it was the first single.”

A few weeks ago, copies were stacked onto the shelves of HMV and Amazon warehouses and later this year Rick will get to play some of the best on his arena tour. He’ll warm up with a series of shows across Europe before playing Birmingham’s Genting Arena on November 15, in addition to numerous other arena shows. It’s not bad for a self-effacing bloke who first retired at the age of 27 and only came back to music because it was an itch he couldn’t scratch.

“I made 50 not thinking many people would hear it, if I’m really honest. But then it went to number one and sold 300,000 copies. So this time, I’m thinking that even if only a quarter of those buy it, that’s still a big number. The experience of 50 has given me a lot more confidence.”

Rick’s reached the happiest of places in his career. Though he’ll forever be ‘The Never Gonna Give You Up Guy’, he’s no longer tabloid fodder. Paparazzi don’t follow him to Tesco and fans are generally polite and kind.

“I think it’s all still slightly unbelievable at times. I’m not really famous. I go to the high street and Tesco and walk down the road and nobody really recognises me. I’m not being stupid, I know I’m a name that people remember if they have their memory jogged. But sometimes I have to click into the mode of remembering, that ‘Oh My God, we put a record out’.

“Back in the day, when I was famous, I was reminded 50 times a day. That doesn’t happen now. Believe me, I go to our local supermarket dressed like a God knows what. I’m off, bobbing around in the back garden then I’ll realise we need milk so I’ll just head out. It goes from that normal existence to someone phoning me up saying: ‘We need to try on suits for a photoshoot tomorrow’. It’s just weird.”

Serendipity features strongly in Rick’s thinking. When we interviewed him a couple of years ago, ahead of his 50 project, he was unequivocal in not being in it for the money. He just wanted to release a record that was well promoted by his record company so that people had the chance to hear it. Then, the fans could decide whether they liked it or not. In the simplest terms, he just wanted to be given a chance.

“It’s been remarkable. If we hadn’t walked into the record label, BMG, at a certain time, they might not have got it. But they did. They listened and we thought it was time people heard my voice again.”

The rest is history, or, more accurately, platinum discs and an arena tour, being playlisted on BBC Radio and flying out to Ibiza for a few days to escape the impending madness.

Not that Rick is a stranger to success. Quite apart from the life-changing era that followed his number one debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody, which spawned the number one single Never Gonna Give You Up – a chart-topper in 24 countries, including the USA, Germany and Australia – Rick’s been a phenomena thanks to the internet sensation that was Rickrolling.

Rickrolling tricked web users into seeing Rick’s Never Gonna Give You Up, earning literally hundreds of millions of views.

“I had a conversation once with a marketing guy and he understands that world. He was saying if you had to try and put a figure on what that had done and its presence, you wouldn’t be able to. If you took any artist in the world you’re going to make them into an internet bubble that won’t go away and would be watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world, they’d think you were nuts. Never Gonna Give You Up is just an old song from 1987. It’s amazing that it’s enjoyed this whole other life.”

Rick has long since come to terms with the success he enjoyed in the 1980s and 1990s. He’d been working as a tea boy for Stock Aitken Waterman and became a lead vocalist in a band after its singer left to pursue a career in hairdressing. He was noticed by Pete Waterman who gave him a job and turned him into a mega star. Rick became the biggest pop star in Britain before giving it up in 1993 and going into retirement.

He has few regrets. “When I look back at the 80s and 90s, I just feel I could have enjoyed it more. I get a sense of ‘if I knew then what I know now’ and all that.

“Never Gonna Give You Up was such a big record it catapulted me into sort of being a record company priority around the world. I found myself going to lunch and dinner with the MD of record labels in each country that we went to. Those guys were speaking a different language to me, it was all about business. I should have played truant hockey. I should have b**gered off a bit more.

“But I felt obliged to do what I was supposed to do. I was a young guy. I wasn’t messing about. I did what I was asked. I should have chilled out a bit more. I was having big hit records at the time and I followed that path.”

It’s all changed now, of course.

“Yes, now I’m the oldest person at dinner. I look around and I’m the oldest on the stage. But that’s OK. It has its charm. When I chat to the band, they listen. It’s been great to play them the last two records with them. I’m OK at finding out whether my band are happy – it’s kind of nice. Some of them are playing songs that their mums liked. But when they tell me they like one of my newer songs, that’s the biggest compliment of all.”