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Rick Astley is famous for two things. Their 1987 hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” And give up.
At 27, Astley abandoned her lucrative pop career to care for her daughter, swapping tour buses for the school run. Rickrolling, a meme that tricked the user into clicking on a video of his famous song, which has amassed over a billion views, brought him back into the spotlight 20 years later. It brought the 1980s singer back to stadiums and festivals, particularly last year’s Glastonbury, introducing him to a new generation. It seemed like he had struck a masterstroke.
I have always considered Astley’s departure from fame and success heroic. It seemed to contrast with many successful people in fields beyond music (business, finance or politics) who chase more money, another deal, a bigger role. How is it possible to make peace with a smaller life without fueling resentment or desperation to recapture the early glories of a successful career? Could Astley teach us something about professional achievement and ego management?
leaving
It turns out that by giving him credit for sacrificing fame for family, he had fallen into a myth. In his new autobiography, NeverAstley sets the record straight. “It’s a lovely idea and because I’ve never talked much about what really happened, people think that’s what happened. But it wasn’t like that, at least not at first. On the surface, I felt enormously relieved to have photographed the whole thing. I felt like I’d been let off the hook: thank the fuck for that, I can still be a dad for a while. However, deep down I was miserable about the whole situation.”
Speaking this week, he told me that he had to walk away because he had reached a point where continuing would have made him miserable and sick. The records were not selling and the promotion seemed useless and exhausting. Flying had become a phobia (“It felt like it was life or death”).
He knew his career had a shelf life. “I was at the frothy end of pop music. Most people don’t reach the age of 25. It was the universe that said, “Leave it in your head now.” He asked to leave his record label and they accepted.
Money makes all the difference
Of course, a significant amount of cash helped the transition. How much is enough to retire at age twenty? I have met many people whose goals change as their lifestyle becomes more expensive. “I can’t pass on the luxury of having enough money to redo the kitchen,” Astley tells me. The way he views his wealth is, “I’m not the richest guy in the neighborhood, but I live in a really nice neighborhood.”
Money had always been about freedom, rather than extravagance. His autobiography describes his desire to escape his volatile father, with whom he lived in a portable cabin in a garden centre: “I wanted to be successful, to make money. . . Talking back to my dad: It would give me the ability to say ‘no’ when he told me what to do.”
Recognize the role of luck.
Astley acknowledges that luck makes a difference. “I’ve been incredibly lucky,” he tells me. “You have to be prepared for that luck, you have to work with it. Without luck, no one gets anywhere. “I am very aware of it.”
Appreciating the luck factor helps curb the potential for unbridled selfishness. “Don’t run away thinking how amazing you are. “If I had gone through a different door,” the outcome could have been very different.
Don’t get carried away by the applause
Astley says fame and success have also taught him not to take praise or criticism “so seriously.” “We live in a world where everyone can express their opinion to the rest of the world, which is an amazing thing. He teaches you, [to take it] with a pinch of salt.”
Rickrolling could have backfired; after all, it was a joke. In the book, he writes that “it was the kind of thing that could become really negative: people could get tired of it, especially if it seemed like you were making the most of it. “It was best to let it take its own course.”
Astley’s bemused wait-and-see reaction is refreshing in a world of media management. “Some artists would be devastated if they became a meme,” he tells me.
Get perspective
Today he is happy with the arc of his career. With his great success in later life, releasing new material and going on nostalgia tours, how could he not be? The experience has given him perspective: fame and success create “nonsense that affects your ego and your belief system.” But still, I probably wouldn’t recommend anyone “quit smoking completely.” “I’d say take a year off.”