Rick Astley “felt guilty” about wanting to take a break from the music industry.
The pop singer, 58, was propelled to stardom in the 1980s after releasing the smash-hit ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ but he took a hiatus from the music industry in 1993 to prioritise time with his partner Lene Bausager and daughter Emilie, who was one year old at the time.
Now, Rick has admitted he was ridden with shame for walking away from his fame.
Speaking to Rachel Burden and Rick Edwards on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “You just end up thinking, I’ve got a daughter at home, I can have a different life, I’m not really loving this.
“And I felt guilty because I was an ’80s pop star, I should be loving it but I kind of felt it’s just time to walk away.”
Rick made his way back into the public eye in 2001 with his LP ‘Keep It Turned On’, and quickly retook his place in the spotlight after he released his first compilation album ‘Greatest Hits’ a year later.
Reflecting on his return to music, the ‘Cry For Help’ hitmaker said making music had always been “a part of [his] DNA”, and emphasised he had only fallen out of love with the industry.
He explained: “I like doing it and I’m still the same with that. I don’t think that’s ever left me. I just fell out love with the music business, not music.”
The ‘Together Forever’ chart-topper added his difficult relationship with his parents had pushed him towards the spotlight when he was young.
He said: “I think it did form me as a person, definitely, and formed a lot of my choices of why I went into music and why I wanted to be on a stage and why I wanted people’s attention – because I don’t think I got enough attention from my parents.”