Rick Astley gets requests to use ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ on a “weekly basis”.
The 80s pop star admits he owes all his success to Stock Aitken Waterman – the famous trio who wrote and produced his hits – as its thanks to them that he’s been offered lots of money to feature the 1983 classic in adverts, video games, and TV series, including ‘Ted Lasso’ and ‘Fortnite’.
Speaking to Classic Pop magazine, Rick said: “We get offers to do something with it probably on a weekly basis.
“I just shot a commercial in America, where they wanted to recreate the video. I was like, ‘Oh f***, come on…
Anyway, long story short, they offered me a lot of money.”
The 57-year-old star admits he’s fortunate to make money for a song he didn’t even write, which he admitted is not “some holy relic”, but he wishes he was asked about his new music more.
He continued: “I do feel very privileged.
“That song is part of my DNA, and I’m lucky to have it. But there’s a point where you go, ‘Hang on, I’m not The Smiths. It’s just a pop song from the 80s, that I didn’t write.’ It’s not some holy relic. If somebody wants to pay me a load of money to do a commercial, which means I can then go and do something I want to do, then yeah, I’II do it. But there are times when you go, ‘So you just want me to come and sing the old song, and don’t even want to talk about the fact I’ve made a new record? Yeah, let’s just leave it.’
“I don’t want to come across in any way precious or act like it’s difficult.
“Because I am grateful. I’ve had a really good life because of Stock Aitken Waterman – not exactly driving Ferraris into pools, but l’ve never had to worry about the gas bill. Which is ridiculous, considering I was 21 at the time. But it’s a weird one. When someone goes, ‘Does Rick want to dress up in a raincoat and do the dance?’, there’s a part of my soul that goes, ‘Hell yeah’. And then there’s a part of me that goes, ‘Nah, not today…”