Rick Astley would do another Songs of The Smiths tour – but he doesn’t think he can get Blossoms back on stage.
The Never Gonna Give You Up hitmaker was backed by the British indie band for two shows in Kentish Town, London where they played tracks by the seminal 1980s Manchester band, including This Charming Man, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, Ask and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.
The collaboration between Rick and Blossoms even saw them play Glastonbury Festival in 2023, and the 59-year-old singer admits he would do that tribute to Morrissey and Johnny Marr’s former band “every weekend” but he thinks Blossoms – fronted by guitarist-and-vocalist Tom Ogden – are too busy enjoying their own success to do more concerts.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at the O2 Silver Clef Awards in London on Wednesday night (02.07.25), Rick said: “I think Blossoms don’t need me for anything to be honest, they’re doing alright by themselves.
“I talk to the guys all the time and we have a real bond over that music. Even though generationally we’re in different time spaces, we both absolutely love those songs and those records. As fun as it was to do – I’d do it every weekend – they’ve got a whole career going on. We’ll see, who knows?
“I think we’ve always got that memory. I think it was such a wonderful thing to do.
“I’d always had this fantasy of singing those songs at some point. I was just going to get a band together and do it in a local pub. I chatted to them about that on their podcast and before you know what you’re doing we’d go in a room and played those songs, I was practically crying and I just said, ‘We’ve got to do this.’ We were just going to do it in a pub in Stockport but we’ve got friends in high places so we got to do it somewhere else.”
Rick has been to watch 61-year-old Marr’s solo shows and has been blown away by his interpretation of his own songs, replacing The Smiths singer Morrissey on vocals.
But Astley has never met Marr, 61, to ask him what he though of his interpretation of The Smiths back catalogue.
Rick added: “I’ve seen Johnny Marr sing those songs in the last year or two and it’s amazing. They’re just amazing songs, I think.
“I’ve never met him. I think he’s got bigger fish to fry and he’s not worried about what anyone else is doing.”
At the O2 Silver Clef Awards – which raised £715,000 and counting for Nordoff and Robbins, the UK’s largest music therapy charity – Astley was presented with with the Outstanding Achievement in Music Award by Alistair Norbury (BMG), acknowledging both his 1980s legacy and contemporary reinvention as a beloved performer.
Astley – who was photographed with his trophy by Dominika Scheibinger – admitted it was an honour to receive the accolade because he has seen first hand the incredible work Nordoff and Robbins does.
He said: “Everyone needs a bit of help at some point – if you see the work Nordoff and Robbins do, you feel extremely humbled. This is truly important. You realise what music can do. It’s given me a life I am unbelievably grateful for.”