Richard Paul Astley (born February 6, 1966) is an English dance-pop singer, songwriter and musician. He was born in Newton-le-Willows, St Helens, Lancashire, England. Astley currently resides in Richmond, Surrey with his Danish girlfriend, Lene Bausager, and their daughter, Emilie. In 1985, Astley was playing the club circuit as a singer with a soul band named FBI, when he was seen by the record producer Pete Waterman and persuaded to come to London to work at the PWL recording studio. Under the tutelage of production trio Stock Aitken Waterman, Astley was taught about the recording process and groomed for his future career, supposedly starting off as the recording studio 'tea boy'. During much of his career prior to the proliferation of music videos, many listeners assumed he was black. In one instance, the comedic entertainer, Sinbad, discussed him with a talk-show host, expressing his surprise that Astley was not "one of the brothers." Even after his visual appearance, it was still popular belief that he was miming for a black American singer. His brother Mark Astley helped to refute this assertion. His first single was the little-known "When You Gonna" credited to Rick & Lisa, but his first solo outing was "Never Gonna Give You Up," released in 1987. It became an immediate success, spending five weeks at the top of the British charts and becoming the year's highest-selling single. It was the first of no fewer than 13 (world-wide) Top 30 hit singles for him. In recent years, "Never Gonna Give You Up" has become something of an internet phenomena with the advent of "rickrolling," posting links to ostensibly relevant sites which actually lead to the "Never Gonna Give You Up" video. The album Whenever You Need Somebody also reached Number One in the UK, and the hit singles continued, including the title track and a cover of Nat King Cole's "When I Fall In Love." On 12 March 1988, "Nev
1 | Don't Say Goodbye | Whenever You Need Somebody |
2 | Where Do I Begin? | Portrait |
3 | Hold Me In Your Arms | Hold Me In Your Arms |
4 | I Don't Want To Be Your Lover | Hold Me In Your Arms |
5 | My Arms Keep Missing You | Rick Astley - Greatest Hits |
6 | I can't help falling in love | Portrait |
7 | Take Me To Your Heart | Hold Me In Your Arms |
8 | Never Gonna Give You Up | Rick Astley - Greatest Hits |
9 | Cry For Help | Rick Astley - Greatest Hits |
10 | Close To You | Portrait |
11 | I Don't Want To Lose Her | Hold Me In Your Arms |
12 | Nature Boy | Portrait |
13 | Make It Easy On Yourself | Portrait |
14 | Together Forever | Rick Astley - Greatest Hits |
15 | Whenever You Need Somebody | Whenever You Need Somebody |
16 | It Would Take A Strong Strong Man | Whenever You Need Somebody |
17 | You Belong To Me | Portrait |
18 | And I Love You So | Portrait |
19 | She Wants to Dance with Me | Rick Astley - Greatest Hits |