Interview: Rick Astley

When the Culture Club star was banged up for 15 months for beating up a male escort they had a problem. Their solution arrived in the form of Rick Astley.

“It's a shame that I'm doing the tour under such strange circumstances and I think it's really sad the predicament George is in right now, but I'm more than happy to do it,” said Astley.

“I did the tour last year and really enjoyed it. I had refused lots of offers to do these ‘reliving the 80s’ gigs in the past but my promoter basically made me an offer I couldn't refuse one day which involved getting to spend some time out in Japan with my family, which we'd always wanted to do. I realised I quite enjoyed the gig and so I did another one and it went from there.

“These gigs are a bit of fun and the audience know exactly what they're going to get. It takes the pressure off because you're performing with others who have had massive hits so it's not all about you.

“We've all got more compassion with each other than we did the first time round. To come this far it's fair to say you've probably had to work through some issues so our egos are more in control. In the ’80s it was like ‘He's got a bigger quiff than me, I'll show him.’ Now we're just glad we've got some hair left!”

Astley was pop gold in the late ’80s. His first eight singles were top 10 hits and there was a six-month period when he was never out of the top 40.

But in 1993, at the age of 27, having sold 19 million records worldwide, he retired.

“I had had enough of it. I was at my wits’ end,” said Astley.

“I developed a fear of flying and I was flying every day. I didn't want to travel any more. I remember the exact moment when it happened. I was in the car on the way to Heathrow airport due to fly to New York and I said, tearfully, to my manager: ‘You have to stop the car. I can’t do this anymore. It's killing me.’ “That might sound ridiculous to someone in a normal job but it’s very hard to explain what it's like unless you've experienced it. You feel like a pig on a skewer. I was just going through the motions. As a kid all I wanted to do was to be a pop star and I got to the point where I hated it and I almost hated myself and that had to stop.

“My wife and I had a baby at this point and I just thought ‘this really isn't worth it’. I knew if I stepped down that would be the end of it. Take That were coming up behind me and I knew there were no half measures. To be fair, I wasn't really selling the records that I did. It’s not as if I was the biggest artist the record company had, they were probably happy to let me go.

“I chose sanity and I have never regretted it. It's been difficult at times, I'll be honest. You go from being world-famous and everybody doing everything for you to a situation where it's like ‘What? I have to carry my own bags?’ and you don't know how to hail a cab. It’s really weird. I had to grow up overnight.

“I'd gone from being a teenager with no money to do anything to having lots of money but no idea how to live.

“My wife and I laugh about it now. We used to go to a hotel and get a massive suite with a piano. Now we get a room and carry our own bags up. It's a fair trade though. I've never regretted it.”

Astley's daughter, now 17, is a factor in many of his career decisions.

“My daughter is suitably embarrassed and proud at the same time,” he said.

“I think she has some idea of what went in the past but we don't really talk about it. I have tried to ignore a lot of things for her behalf. I have been very aware of the fact that it's uncool for your dad to be an ’80s has-been. That's not comfortable for a teenager. That's not as cool as being Bono's daughter. But saying that, I bet it's hard being Bono's daughter sometimes.”

l See Rick Astley perform in the Here & Now Tour 2009 at Manchester Arena on Friday, May 15. Tickets are on sale now. Call hotline on 0844 847 1726 or visit www.men-arena.com.