美国国家公共电台 NPR 'I've Had A Charmed, Amazing Life': Rick Astley On '80s Stardom And Making A New Hit（在线收听）

'I've Had A Charmed, Amazing Life': Rick Astley On '80s Stardom And Making A New Hit

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0009:17repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

And now we're going to hear from someone who hasn't been in the spotlight for a while, but we bet you recognize this voice.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP")

RICK ASTLEY: (Singing) We're no strangers to love. You know the rules and so do I.

MARTIN: That voice made Rick Astley's name synonymous with '80s pop, especially with the hit single "Never Gonna Give You Up." And that was just the beginning. He would go on to record eight consecutive number-one singles in his home country Britain in just six years. But then in 1993, he walked away. Now, though, he is back with a new album, his first major release in nearly 30 years. It's called "50," and it's already topping the charts in the United Kingdom and just went on sale in North America this week.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THIS OLD HOUSE")

ASTLEY: (Singing) This old house is made of stone, and this old house I call my home.

MARTIN: Rick Astley is on a short U.S. tour, and we spoke to him in our bureau in New York. And I started off by asking him if he was nervous coming back into the spotlight.

ASTLEY: In a lot of ways, no, really, because I didn't have anything to be nervous about. We didn't really have any expectations. I made this record myself in my own studio at home. I wrote it all, produced it, played all the instruments. It's been a labor of love. It's been something I kind of wanted to do to mark my 50th birthday which was this year. But, obviously, I was making the record last year. I didn't anticipate anything fantastic happening, and it just went boom, so yeah. It's great.

MARTIN: Happy birthday.

ASTLEY: Thank you. Thank you.

MARTIN: The album is very rich. I mean, I think that, you know, the word spiritual's been applied.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANGELS ON MY SIDE")

ASTLEY: (Singing) Faith is for the faithful. I see it in your eyes, and I got angels on my side. Can you see them? Can you see them? I got angels flying high. Can you see them? Can you see them?

MARTIN: It is not uncommon for people to reacquaint themselves with a spiritual side. Can you identify something that kind of inspired in every sense of the word this particular sound?

ASTLEY: I think for me even as a small kid, I sang in choirs at the church, choir at school, choir - the idea of singing with other people. And I think as a kid when I was having "Never Gonna Give You Up" and a couple of the other hits and stuff, I wouldn't have thought that deeply about certain lyrics, I don't think, because they were pop songs. You know, that's what they were. It was like girl meets boy da, da, da, you know. And I think having lived a bit longer now, I think certain things that have happened in my life have definitely changed the way I feel about things.

That song "Angels On My Side" is about the fact that I have two older brothers and an older sister, and they looked out for me a lot. My mom and dad got divorced, and having older brothers and an older sister that could have gone one of two ways. They could have neglected the youngest kid. And I don't think they did. I think they looked after me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANGELS ON MY SIDE")

ASTLEY: (Singing) I need the people that I really love to only give me truth. Don't fake it. I can't take it. My heart gets close to breaking. It reminds me of my youth.

That's happened right through my career as well of good people around me. I've still got most of my sanity, and I've still got some money which is a freaky thing in this industry. Sometimes when people have a pop career, they kind of - they get churned up and thrown out the other end, and they have a disastrous life sometimes after. And I've had a charmed, amazing life. You know, so I think it's just been great to have those experiences to be able to write and sing about for this record.

MARTIN: A lot of these lyrics, as you said, they go a little deeper than often the pop song does. I mean, you have been - well, as open as many people in your position can really be about the fact that when you were growing up, there were a lot of things going on with your family. I would suggest that at this point looking back that there was probably a heritable strain of mental illness.

ASTLEY: I think mental illness sounds a bit much to be honest, but I just think all families go through stuff where - well, for instance, my mom and dad had a son who died before I was even born. And I think that affects the family in ways you can't even describe, come to terms with anything. I think that's one of the most tragic things possibly to happen to two people. And I was the youngest. I was 4 or 5 when they got divorced, so I didn't really know that story. I didn't really - I didn't - that wasn't part of my world, really. And I think also when you're around two people who are very, very, very unhappy, i.e. parents, it's really tough.

And I think what happened with me is that that's why I got into music, I think. I wanted to be at the school choir. I wanted to be at church, even though I wasn't necessarily very religious, I don't think. I just wanted to be somewhere else with people my own age, and singing really helped me. And, again, one of the songs on the album is called "Keep Singing" and that's kind of, again - what that is about that singing's been good for me, right through my life, to be honest.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KEEP SINGING")

ASTLEY: (Singing) Keep singing, whoa, keep singing. Praising to the heavens with my voice ringing. Keep singing, whoa, keep singing. Clap to the beat until my hands are stinging. And I'd be saved some sunny day from throwing my life, throwing my life away.

MARTIN: Your story is so remarkable because, as you mentioned earlier, so often we hear about people like you who had these incredible successes, particularly early in life and then become a disaster. But you didn't. I mean, you had these huge hits, and you know what? I would be remiss if I did not honor your fans by playing one of your big hits from the '80s. I'm going to pick one that I think Americans would remember. How about "It Would Take A Strong Man?" How about that?

ASTLEY: Yeah. Great. Let's do it.

MARTIN: Let's play that.

ASTLEY: Absolutely.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT WOULD TAKE A STRONG MAN")

ASTLEY: (Singing) You know, you know. It would take a strong, strong man to ever let you go.

MARTIN: What was it that made you decide it was time to go? And, again, you know, I'm wondering how is it that you were able to go when so many of your peers just seemed to just go off the tracks? What do you think it is?

ASTLEY: I think there's a number of things. The manager looked after me through, you know, traveling-wise and being there and all the rest of it through all my famous kind of time - has never had a drink in his life. And when I said, come on, let's go have a few drinks, he'd say, great, I'll come with you. And he'd have a Coke, and I'd have a couple of drinks. And at that point, you, well, I don't really want a couple more. You're just drinking Coke. But I also think having a few drinks in the bar, meeting up with a few people and having a few more - that's the slippery slope, isn't it? That's the point where you do that every night and then you have to get hammered every night and then obviously there's drugs. There's everything else. And I never really got into that. And I think sometimes the intensity of being famous in the way that I was can drive people to pretty crazy things. So...

MARTIN: Well, you were gone, but you were never really gone because then this kind of crazy thing happened with social media with Rick rolling where a person provides a hyperlink which is irrelevant to the topic at hand and then it leads to a video of you in the famous trenchcoats.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP")

ASTLEY: (Singing) Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

MARTIN: You know, I don't know. How do you feel about this? I could see where it could be either a huge compliment or it could be kind of annoying. Where do you come out on it?

ASTLEY: I think it's been funny to be honest. For the most part, most of the things have been pretty clever. There's your basic Rick rollers, as you explained in the beginning, but there's been so many things that people have used that song and that video for. They've even, you know, cut up all President Obama's speeches and got him to kind of speak "Never Gonna To Give You Up," which I thought was pretty amazing. Our daughter is about 15 when that first started, quite a few years ago now. We had a sit down, and she chatted to me about it. And she just said her view on it was that it has nothing to do with me. It could have been any cheesy video from the '80s that somebody picked and that I should just let it go and that's what I've done.

MARTIN: Well, why do you say it was cheesy? You're hurting my feelings here. I kind like the video. What...

ASTLEY: OK. All right. Well, it's different. If you look back at photographs of yourself from many years back, you probably look at them and cringe a little bit. Maybe you don't think, but I think most people do. And I'm in that same boat. I'm just doing it with videos that most of the world has seen, so I look at it and I just kind of think, (groans). You know, I think it's pretty cheesy that video. I think most videos from the '80s are pretty cheesy to be honest.

MARTIN: Yeah, I guess. Well, congratulations on everything. Thank you so much for speaking with us. Is it true you named the album "50" kind of a little bit of an homage to Adele and her naming albums after her age?

ASTLEY: Homage is definitely a nicer way of putting it. I didn't think I'd see my name anywhere on the same page as Adele in the chart in the U.K. and boom there it was. I really liked the fact that she called her albums the ages that she was. I mean, that's what she was doing when she was that age. That's what she had to give that age. And, for me, this is where I am at 50. This is what I can give, and this is what I've given. So there it is.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WISH AWAY")

ASTLEY: (Singing) When you feel your day has turned and life gets in your face, when you feel all light has gone and darkness fills your space, who do you turn to? Who do you call to find the love you need? Before you stumble, before you fall...

MARTIN: That's Rick Astley speaking to us about his new album "50." It's out now. Rick, thanks so much for speaking with us.

ASTLEY: My pleasure. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WISH AWAY")

ASTLEY: (Singing) Because I see stars shining like a wish for every one of us. I see silver linings every day. I see stars shining, a wish to grant us a miracle...