It is 29 years since singer/songwriter Rick Astley last topped the UK charts. His debut solo single, Never Gonna Give You Up, was an international phenomenon. It hit number one in 25 countries and reached the top ten in many more. 
The song’s parent album, Whenever You Need Somebody, was also hugely successful. It took pole position on the UK chart and also held top spot in numerous other countries.
Rick was 21 at the time. Despite releasing another seven top ten singles and two more very successful albums, Rick retired from the music business just six years later.
“I’d always had a difficult relationship with show business,” he recalled. “I loved singing but wasn’t so keen on the other aspects of being a pop star. 
“I’d never lived the typical pop star lifestyle. I much preferred being at home with my family. My money had been well invested so I didn’t need to work. My daughter, Emilie, was approaching her first birthday. I wanted to enjoy raising her.”
Rick was absent from the music scene for much of the next 23 years. He wrote the occasional song for friends and even released a couple of albums, Keep It Turned On in 2002 and Portrait in 2005. Despite Rick failing to promote them, the albums sold reasonably well.
“I suppose I treated the albums as like keeping my hand in. I didn’t want to go through the business side of promoting them but I did want those who might be interested to know I was still around.
“It was something similar when I did the ‘Here and Now’ tour with other artists from the 80s and 90s such as Boy George and Belinda Carlisle. I had good fun with some old friends and didn’t have to worry about promotion or business.”
He became more famous around this time for the Internet practice of Rickrolling. It began in 2007 when anyone looking for a Grand Theft Auto IV video game trailer was redirected to Rick’s video for Never Gonna Give You Up.
“It quickly became one of those viral Internet memes. Anybody who wanted to play a trick on people created a link which took them to my video rather than where they expected to go.
“The video has now been viewed in the hundreds of millions. Everyone thinks I must have made a fortune from Rickrolling but that’s not the case. I didn’t write Never Gonna Give You Up so I only get the performance share which isn’t very much.”
Rick will earn rather more from the remarkable success of his latest album, 50. Benefitting from him actually promoting the new album, it has debuted atop the UK chart.
“It all came about from turning 50 in February. Reaching 50 felt like a milestone in my life and I wanted to mark it in some way. I’d written quite a few songs which friends had said were good so I got back in the studio to see how they might sound. I was really pleased with the end result so that’s how 50 came to be released.”
Rick saw off the challenge of new albums by Tom Odell and Sir Paul McCartney. This was despite having an entire shipment of his albums trashed by would-be illegal immigrants who broke into a lorry transporting the CDs into Britain from the pressing plant in Germany.
“I don’t know the full tale but it seems they tried to hide themselves in amongst the CDs and caused so much damage that they were easily spotted when the lorry was inspected. It meant pressing another batch of copies which reached the shops later than scheduled. In a way though, it was a good thing. The story gave my album that much more publicity.”
The album title is a nod to Adele.
“Her albums are titled from Adele’s age when she recorded them. As my album was made to commemorate being 50, I thought it was appropriate to take a leaf from Adele’s book and use my age as the title.”
Despite clocking up his half-century, Rick still looks incredibly young.
“I think looking youthful comes from my family genes. But I also put it down to having a life which has basically been free of personal problems. 
“Getting out of show business when I did meant I had no more worries about the aspects of being a pop star which had bothered me. I’ve also been with my wife for 27 years. I’ve enjoyed a wonderful life with Lene and our daughter.”
Is 50 the prelude to more albums from Rick?
“I’m not sure. I can say I’m enjoying everything a lot more this time. Every track on 50 is my own composition. They are the style of songs I fell in love with when I was a kid and I couldn’t be more excited to share them with my fans.
“There is also no pressure now, I’m doing everything on my own terms. I won’t say anything definite but I don’t think you’ve heard the last of me yet.”


in 
brief


Christina Aguilera


Shocked and saddened by the recent shooting attack in an Orlando nightclub, singer Christina Aguilera has released a new single which is dedicated to the victims. All proceeds from the US downloads of Change will be donated to the National Compassion Fund to directly benefit the Orlando shooting victims and their families.
In a statement on her website, Christina said: “Like so many, I want to be part of the change this world needs to make it a beautiful inclusive place where humanity can love each other freely and passionately. We live in a time of diversity and endless possibilities where expression of oneself is something to be celebrated.
“I am left wondering how people filled with so much love could be taken by so much hate. Though there is such heavy sadness, I believe there is much more love in the world than we know.”
A lyric video for Change can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBSghlH0JgM


Allie X


Canadian singer, pianist and songwriter Alexandra Hughes, better known as Allie X, is one of those artists who never seem to get the break they need to turn quality music into chart stardom.
Check out the video for her new single, Too Much To Dream, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb01kwrDCmQ 
It is the first track taken from Allie’s forthcoming sophomore album, Collexion 2, and is as good as any song of a similar genre in the US and UK charts.
Katy Perry is a fan but there aren’t too many more. This is perhaps Allie’s own fault in that she has always kept an air of mystery around herself and her music.
Her only charting song, 2014’s Catch, didn’t even have an accompanying video. Had it done so, the track might have climbed higher than the number 55 spot it reached on the Canadian Hot 100.
A repetitive, uninteresting video was eventually made. A new and very watchable video accompanied Catch when the song was re-released last year. But any momentum had been long since lost. The quality video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOKsdQm0JFo
The release of her new single and album is surely the time for Allie to open up to the music media. This might hopefully result in her work receiving the attention it deserves. 


Brooke Candy


Nasty is the latest single from singer/rapper Brooke Candy. The second track taken from Daddy Issues, her forthcoming debut album, Nasty is accompanied by a video which sees Brooke interact with a snake and scorpion, though not at the same time. It is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKr6A31pXH0
Now 26, Brooke was first noticed four years ago through her appearance in the video for Genesis by Canadian singer Grimes. The video went viral and is now approaching 38 million views on YouTube.
Having been an exotic dancer and a mannequin stylist, Brooke was self-releasing her own songs and videos by this time. She signed with RCA in 2014 and has spent the last two years working on both her music and, with MAC Cosmetics, on two lines of her own make-up products.
The video for Happy Days, the lead single from Daddy Issues, can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMjYMStWwG4 
Rubber Band Stacks was also released as a single last year but did not make the album final cut. The video is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg77h0ePeHQ