Rick Astley

In 1987, the world was greeted by a new vocal talent. Shocked by the powerful, mature soulful voice of a 21 year old, the UK obliged by sending his debut single "Never Gonna Give You Up" to the top of the charts within 2 weeks of its release. The artist was, of course, Rick Astley. The rest of the world soon followed suit with "Never Gonna Give You Up" reaching Number 1 in 16 other countries including most of Europe, Japan, United States and Australia. The following 2 years saw Rick continue to dominate the charts around the globe. In the UK, Rick was in the Top 40 every week for the first 6 months of his career.

Rick Astley was born on February 6, 1966 in the North of England and was brought up in a small coal-mining town called Newton-Le-Willows. He was the youngest of 4 children and followed in his mother's footsteps with his fondness of music. Rick sang in a local church choir but his love for the drums inevitably found him in local bands by his early teenage years. On leaving a band named "Give Way" he joined "FBI", and it was here that recognition of Rick's talents began take an upward curve.

Besides Rick, a few of his school friends completed the five members of FBI. They began gigging in pubs and became noted for being one of the only bands in the area to be writing and performing their own material. Realising they had a good thing going, FBI sought management. Under the guidance of Dave Warwick and Tony Graham, they continued with their pub gigs but in addition, managed to land slots in clubs doing covers of songs that were around at the time. FBI expanded their fan base and developed into a well-known band locally.

-http://www.rickastley.co.uk