Rick Astley interviews, articles and reviews from Rock's Backpages

Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 19 December 1987

Is 'When I Fall In Love' the vinyl voice of God? Or does it herald the golden age of the bathtub crooner? The apple of ...

Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 24 December 1988

IS RICK merely a driplet of festering pus oozing from a seeping SAW inflicted on the slashed side of the crucified pop-christ by the very ...

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 24 December 1988

POOR LITTLE PUP. So keen to please, yet so reviled by the over-15's. Some bleak midnights, he must wonder: "What did I ever do to ...

Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 18 March 1989

SO THIS IS what we're supposed to be getting so angry about. Tonight is my first proper pop concert, and it's bizarre. They're screaming! At ...

Report and Interview by David Quantick, Vox, March 1991

Tear down your glossy posters. For the days of teen idolism are over — according to the improved, longer-lasting Rick Astley. A new album and ...

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 March 1991

RICK ASTLEY's new album is called Free. What can this mean? Surely, Rick is not implying that he was once merely a performing surf to ...

Retrospective by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, December 2000

WARNING: this article contains extremely positive comments about "disposable" pop. ...

Interview by Paul Sexton, Daily Telegraph, 9 September 2016

OVER COFFEE in a smart London hotel, Rick Astley is explaining his antidote to middle age. "I still play in a band, with a couple of friends. We ...

Review by Maura Johnston, The Village Voice, 6 October 2016

SAY THE NAME Rick Astley in 2016 and you'll probably get a reply involving his 1987 smash 'Never Gonna Give You Up', a brightly spangled ...

Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 March 2020

"One day I was making the tea for Bananarama. The next I was at No 1." ...

Rick Astley