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Eighties heartthrob Rick Astley has revealed how he was ‘Rickrolled’ out of early retirement by a meme during a family holiday.

Just 21 when his first hit Never Gonna Give You Up was released on July 27, 1987 - reaching number one in 25 countries - Rick, who’s had eight top 10 UK hits and won a Brit award for his debut - left the music industry just six years later.

Everything changed during a trip to Italy, when his friend sent him a meme that tricked people into hearing Rick singing Never Gonna Give You Up. It became an internet sensation after a YouTube April Fool in 2008 redirected every featured video on its home page to his song.

Rick, who had retired to spend more time with his family, recalls: “It was kind of a new sexy thing. The Rickrolling thing was just completely bonkers - and then it just made me come out of my shell.”

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While it took him a while to make music again, Rick - who turns 60 on Friday February 6 - once he did there was no stopping him and in 2023, he even headlined Glastonbury. He laughs: “I’m too old to give a sh** anymore!”:

A major star of the Stock Aitken Waterman hit factory in the 1980s, the youngest of four kids, Rick grew up in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, where his dad had a garden centre and recalls playing drums to ACDC’s Highway to Hell in his dad’s industrial-sized greenhouse.

He also remembers his older siblings influencing his musical tastes, saying: “Even though I wanted to have the Jungle Book album on, I was listening to Genesis and Marvin Gaye and whatever else.”

Spotted by Pete Waterman at a ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition, while fronting a group called FBI, soon after, he joined the Stock Aitken Waterman hit factory.

Performing Never Gonna Give Me Up on Top of the Pops at a time when the success of MTV meant most acts had videos. He says: “It was just amazing. “It ended up being the biggest record of the year. It was number one in America. It was just one of those records that got people going..”

His first album Whenever You Need Somebody (1987) became number one here and in Australia and his second album Hold Me in Your Arms (1988) peaked at number 8 here and was certified platinum and gold in multiple countries.

But in 1991 he left SAW to pursue his love of soul, having a number 7 hit with Cry For Help (1991) and releasing the album Free the same year, which peaked at number 9. He admits after Cry for Help: “I had in the back of my mind ‘this may be the only record you ever make’.”

Collaborating with Elton John in the early 1990s, Rick also sang backing vocals for his hit “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King, while Elton played piano on the track ‘Wonderful You’ on Free.

Yet, in 1993 it looked like the end for Rick. Feeling that boybands like Take That were taking over, he says: “I was going to go to America to do TV and my bottle had gone.

“On the way to the airport I just said ‘I’m not going’. And I knew what it meant, I was crying and I just went home. Lena, my partner, and I had a baby, our daughter [Emilie] and we bought a big house in the country, and went into a bit of a hibernation to some degree.”

But the Rickrolling incident in 2007 changed everything. He says: “I got the bug again just for the joy of singing.

“I wasn't doing it for the money, for anybody, for fame. Around that time I had an offer to go to Japan and sing my old songs. I had an absolute riot doing it. Something changed in me that said ‘this can be fun.’”

But it wasn’t until 2016 when he released his highly praised album 50 - which debuted at number one in the UK - that he made his official comeback.

. On its success, Rick says: “Of course it’s about some talent and a lot of drive and commitment, but it’s also just about that sliding doors moment.

“I thought I’d be releasing it [the album] on my own label out of the back of a van, I didn’t think a record label would get hold of it and go ‘no we’re going for it’. The idea of having, for want of a better phrase, a comeback it’s like I wouldn’t have bet my doorstep on it, never mind my house.”

Then, mates with Kylie Minogue since Stock Aitken Waterman days, she asked Rick to sing with her at the BBC Radio 2 concert in Hyde Park in 2018, surprising the audience with their medley of Never Gonna Give You Up and I Should Be So Lucky. She called the collaboration “just amazing.”

And in 2023, Rick was invited to perform at Glastonbury. Given a pep talk beforehand by his then 31-year-old daughter Amelia, he recalls:“She said ‘it’ll be fine’. I think she just knew I was really nervous so she told me to ‘just go and enjoy it like you would any gig, like playing in a pub’.

“That whole day was just bonkers. To be first on the Pyramid Stage is a terrifying experience - we went up 45 mins before just to look at it and there was nobody there. I went back to the dressing room and thought ‘not only is this going to be the biggest embarrassment, it’s on the BBC’.”

Performing his own hits, covers of Harry Styles’ songs and ACDC’s Highway to Hell, he continues: “Being on stage it still made me tingle. I just enjoyed myself for the whole time we were up there.”

Later the same day, he took to the Woodsies Stage to perform Smiths covers in a surprise collaboration with the band Blossoms, which fans described as the moment that ‘won Glastonbury’.

He says: “It came about because I met them [Blossoms] when the Manchester Arena reopened and Noel Gallagher was gracious enough to have everyone in his room afterwards. I said to them ‘my fantasy of the universe thing is just go somewhere and sing Smith songs.’ My older brother Mike got me into the Smiths early on - their songs are like nothing else and no one else.”

And his dream came true at Glastonbury.. Rick says: “The crowd was just insane - it’s probably one of the best times I’ve ever had on a stage.”

There may still be happier times to come, as Rick is now gearing up for a 12 date UK and Ireland tour, named The Reflection Tour, launching in April. He says:” People love an underdog story and I don’t have regrets. I’m very grateful and happy to be where I am.”

Meanwhile, fans who fear this could be the final comeback from the man who officially retired more than 30 years ago can probably safely assume he’s never gonna give you up!

*Rick was speaking to Dermot O’Leary for Reel Stories: Rick Astley, which will be broadcast in February 2026 on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.