Rick Astley: I've learned to quietly embrace Never Gonna Give You Up

Astley said he had "reconnected" with the song "in a kind of way"

Rick Astley has said he has "learned to quietly embrace" Never Gonna Give You Up after he admitted he "had 15 years of not singing it".

Launching his new album, Are We There Yet?, he said the 1987 smash hit had taken on a life of its own in recent years, thanks to the Rickrolling trend.

The resulting attention threw him back into the spotlight and catapulted him to a triumphant set at Glastonbury.

He said he "reconnected" with the song, which he now saw as a "door opener".

The Newton-le-Willows-born singer enjoyed huge success in the 1980s after Never Gonna Give You Up, his debut single, topped the charts across the world.

However, he became disillusioned with the music business and stepped away from in it in the 1990s.

His return in the following decade delighted his fans, but he did not quite touch the same level of fame he had previously - until Rickrolling became a thing.

The internet prank, which saw people tricked into clicking on a hyperlink that led to the video for his debut single, has seen the song receive 1.4 billion views on YouTube to date.

It also forced Astley to reconsider how he thought about it.

"I had 15 years of not singing it," he told BBC North West Tonight.

"I can understand some artists would be freaked out about [the success of] it and run a mile, but I've learned to quietly embrace it.

"I have reconnected with it in a kind of way."

He said it did not matter where he now went in the world, "people kind of know that tune".

"I don't want to shake it off because it has opened so many doors," he said.

"I wish I had five more [songs like it] to be honest."

Astley used to serve tea and sandwiches to other popstars in his early days with Stock, Aitken and Waterman

He said he was delighted where the song had now taken him, such as his trip to Worthy Farm in June.

"Without my old songs and without the Rickrolling thing with its own little universe, I wouldn't have got the invite to Glastonbury," he said.

"It was really, really special [and] I defy anybody to be on the Pyramid stage and not feel the enormity of it.

"Twelve o'clock on a Saturday [afternoon] could have been a nightmare, because people are still rolling out of their tents, but we got a great audience, some fantastic weather and we really got into it."

He said the experience was a long way from how he started out, acting as "tea boy" for the other acts being produced and promoted by legendary 1980s pop trio Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman.

"They were just so busy, I ended up making tea and getting sandwiches for acts like Bananarama, Mel & Kim, [and] Dead Or Alive like every other kid in the building," he said.

"What was great is that I used to get to do my demos late at night and at weekends.

"The engineers would be working on number one records in the week and helping me at the weekends.

"Where else would that have happened?"

Astley has been able to embrace a wilder side in his most recent shows

He said his music had changed since those days, but he remained grateful for the experience and happy to include some of those songs, including Never Gonna Give You Up, in his shows now.

"Without my old songs and without the Rickrolling thing... I wouldn't have got the invite for Glastonbury," he said.

"I do get to sneak in a new song every now and again when no-one's looking, but without the back story, I wouldn't be there."

Astley's new album, Are We There Yet?, is out now.

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