Rick Astley says the best part of his job is getting to travel the world.
The ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ hitmaker quit music after suffering an emotional breakdown in 1993.
One year after welcoming his daughter Emilie with wife Lene, Rick was on his way to Heathrow to fly to New York, when he had a breakdown on the M4 motorway.
Rick was unhappy with the direction his music was going in with songwriting trio Stock Aitken Waterman, but now, aged 53, he couldn’t be more happier with where his career is at and has enjoyed re-recording his old songs for his upcoming ‘The Best Of Me’ greatest hits LP.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz at the National Lottery Awards earlier this week, he said "I’m just enjoying life at the moment and, yeah, kicking back whenever I get a chance too."
Asked if fans can expect any new music, he said: "We’ve got a ‘Best Of’ coming out pretty soon, I’ve rerecorded a load of songs for that – the old ones.
"And then we’ve got gigs coming up next year and stuff, which I’m really looking forward too."
These days, Rick likes to balance his touring with trips aboard.
Asked what else he has coming up, he said: "Holidays, I would hope.
"Yeah, that’s what I’ll be looking forward too.
"We go to Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and then we do a UK tour.
"So we’ve got quite a bit of travelling to do but, to be honest, that’s one of the best parts of the job really.
"Even at my age, I still kind of really relish that thing of getting out there on the road, I still really love it."
Rick recently revealed he changed his mind about the music industry when he was invited to join the 80s tribute tour ‘Here And Now’ in Japan in 2007.
He said: "I’d always said I was over it, but I got an offer to go to Japan, and Lene and Emilie wanted to go.
"It was with other groups of my era, heritage acts, has-beens, whatever you call us. I loved it."
Rick Astley relishes getting to tour the world
