MUSIC COLLECTOR, NO. 27, MAY 1991

RICK ASTLEY

By Fiona Birse

With two of his friends, Rick formed his first band. Calling themselves Give Way, they had their first performance on St. Valentines Day 1981. For a good performance at this gig his father bought him a decent drum kit for Christmas. It is said that the name Give Way was inspired by a road sign they acquired going home one night the thereafter became the band's logo. Although Rick was the drummer he did occasionally take the vocals as the band played around the local rugby clubs.

On leaving school, he spent a year driving a delivery van for the family garden centre business in Newton-le-Willows, gut his mind was always set on a career in music. Not happy with Give Way Rick left after eighteen months and found a place in a new band FBI who took their name from the Shadows' hit. Beside covering material by other bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Rick began writing material for FBI and took on most of the vocals.

As well as being in Give Way and FBI, he also spent some time with a band called Bonk which cut a single Car Jam. This was his first involvement with recording. Entering a talent contest FBI won 1,000 pounds which allowed them to buy new equipment. They then got by with the help of 40 pounds a week from an Enterprise Allowance Scheme. Although FBI were actually rock based, Rick began visiting Wigan Casino and got interested in U.S. soul singers such as Alexander O'Neal, Luther Vandross and Michael MacDonald, the latter being a personal favourite.

Pete Waterman of PWL heard FBI at the invitation of their manager in May 1985 at a club in Warrington. Although not interested in the band as a whole, he was impressed with Rick's voice. He therefore gave Rick the opportunity to come down to London to work in the studio with a view to recording. Unsure of whether to take up the offer Rick hesitated before contacting Waterman and moving down to London. This caused a lot of jealousy with the other members of the band. Eventually the rhythm guitarist, Will Hooper, who still remains one if Rick's best friends, told his to go for it.

An early vocal recording by Rick Astley can be heard on an album by O'chi Brown released in November 1986 from which the single Learning To Live (Without Your Love) was taken after the success of Never Gonna Give You Up. He was uncredited on the album and received no royalties. O'chi Brown was later to have a hit in the USA with her cover version of Whenever You Need Somebody. Rick made another early appearance on the Ferry Aid single Let It Be when in aid of the Zeebrugge Disaster, a host of stars gave their services free as well as S.A.W. studio time. Rick was unknown but is credited on the accompanying backing vocals.

In May 1987 the single When You Gonna by Rick & Lisa was released by RCA. PWL producers, Phil Harding and Ian Curnow has written a backing track and asked Rick to provide some lyrics. When recording the song it was thought to be better as a duet. Backing singer, Lisa Carter, provided the additional vocal and the single was released in a plain cover without any promotion under the simple name of Rick & Lisa. Although the song did not have much impact he did remain with RCA when his solo recording career started two months later. Another rare recording from this period is a song called Modern Girl. This can be found on the soundtrack LP Knights & Emeralds.

The single Never Gonna Give You Up was to give Rick his first major success. Written by S.A.W., the song was recorded in October 1986 and mixed on New Years Day 1987. Feeling the time was not right for release, Waterman held back the single until July. The single was an immediate success reaching the Number 1 position where it stayed for five weeks. Similar success was achieved throughout Europe, making the single the biggest selling single record of 1987. The follow up single was to be the title of his debut album Whenever You Need Somebody, released in October. The top position was out of reach but a comfortable No 3 was not a disappointment.

The LP Whenever You Need Somebody was released on 16th November 1987 and within a month sold half a million copies. If the ten tracks on the album Rick contributed four songs of his own composition. To make a bid for the coveted Christmas No. 1, RCA released Rick's version of the Nat King Cole classic When I Fall In Love The single went in at No. 2 where it was to remain, being kept off the No. 1 spot by the Pet Shop Boys Always On My Mind. When the immediate success of When I Fall in Love Capitol decided to re-issue the original version by Nat King Cole, which went on to sell 15,000 copies. This meant a considerable loss of sales on Rick's part. Had he achieved an additional 12,500 pounds sales, it would have allowed him to overtake the Pet Shop Boys.

To maintain sales of the single after Christmas, the record was turned over in favour of My Arms Keep Missing You, another SAW composition. Two remixes were released, the 7" Where's Harry remix and the 12" Bruno's mix.

By now Rick Astley had gained great popularity, with regular features in the music press and numerous appearances on pop programmes. There were also special guest spots on shows like the Royal Variety Performance and The Miss World Contest. February '88 saw the annual B.P.I. Awards on which he performed Never Gonna Give You Up, which was awarded the best single of the year. With the programme time running over schedule, he was robbed of his acceptance of the award, which subsequently cause an outcry in the papers the next day and letters to the B.B.C. He was presented with the Award on Top Of The Pops later that week.

Together Forever was released in February '88 reaching No. 2. Rick's popularity had now reached Japan and much time was spent travelling on promotional visits there and also in the U.S.A. Disappearing for a few months for some time off and to write material for his second album, strong rumours circulated that he was to perform the theme for the James Bond film Licensed To Kill. Unfortunately, the rumours were not to be become a reality. September 12th 1988 was the release of She Wants To Dance With Me. Peaking at No. 6 this was the first taste of the forthcoming album. The song was also his first self-penned single.

A fire at PWL's Old Kent Road Studio set back the release of the new album when the master tapes were destroyed. Luckily, the programming information for the tracks survived. The release date was postponed until 28th November 1988 to allow Rick to lay down new vocals. Take Me To Your Heart, another SAW composition, was the next single. It was released in November 1988, a week before the new L.P. and reached No. 8.

Unfortunately Rick Astley's relationship with the press began to deteriorate. Not willing to accept the role of just being a teen idol, criticism of his image and style surfaced in the music papers and spilled over in to the tabloids. Gradually the knocks reflected in record sales and the success of the second album, Hold Me IN Your Arms, failed to repeat that of the first. Despite the reports, Rick went on his first full UK concert tour, starting on 8th December 1988. There then followed a world wide tour which included dates throughout Europe and then America. An audio recording of the Edinburgh Playhouse concert on 8.12.88 which was his first live gig is available on unofficial cassette release (if you can find it!). The new album was released on 30th January 1989. Although one of the best ballads he has written, Hold Me In Your Arms only reached No. 10 before dropping sharply from the charts. An unfortunate reflection of his decline in popularity at this time.

With his contract in full control of RCA, Rick began to work and experiment with other producers to achieve the sound he wanted for his next recordings. A session with Gary Katz in Los Angeles with an array of top studio musicians was considered a failure because of a dated sound. RCA then lined up a variety of British artists for Rick to work with. These included producer Garry Stevenson, best known for his work with Go West, and Ann Dudley from Art Of Noise on string arrangements. An opportunity to work with Bob Fisher from Climie Fisher, and Level 42's Mark King resulted in two songs each, co-written with Rick. Probably the most notable contribution to Rick's third album is that of Elton John who provided piano on two tracks. The album was recorded in a variety of places including, London, Los Angeles, Denmark and the Isle Of Man. The end result is the album Free, a title which obviously reflects the present position of his career as well as his personal feelings. The first taste of Free has been the single Cry For Help, one of the songs co-written with Bob Fisher. On reaching a top position of No.7, the single shows Rick Astley has the capability to have success on his own without the guidance of S.A.W. Released on 18th February, Free showed promising success by entering the album chart at No. 9.

With a new album and image to match, Rick Astley has gained a more credible acceptance within the record industry. Despite any former misgivings, his early material should not be forgotten as he has already proved himself a worthy songwriter, and no matter what he has sung, his outstanding voice has already succeeded in showing he has the ability to be one of Britain's most notable singers.