Trivia / Rick Astley

• Approval of God: Rick Astley has made it very clear that he adores the meme of Rick Rolling.
• Career Resurrection: Probably due to success of the Rickroll, Rick Astley recorded his first single in 17 years: Lights Out. Even better, his 2016 album 50 debuted on top of the UK charts, his first #1 album since Whenever You Need Somebody, the very album that spawned his two #1 hits.
• Channel Hop: Astley was originally signed to RCA Records and remained there until the early '90s, when he retired from music to look after his family. After he came out of retirement in 2000, he signed a new deal with Polydor Records, who released Keep It Turned On through their Cruz Music imprint. The Polydor deal lasted only for that album, with Astley returning to RCA for 2005's Portrait before moving over to BMG for all of his following material.
• Colbert Bump: The "Meet the Quagmires" episode of Family Guy from 2007, which is an extended parody of Back to the Future, featured "Never Gonna Give You Up" and used Astley for its version of the Chuck Berry gag from the original film. That episode was probably the main catalyst in inspiring the Memetic Mutation that revived his career.
• He Also Did: Composed the music for the 2004 short film Cashback.
• Revival by Commercialization: The Internet effectively gave Rick Astley his career back.
• What Could Have Been: Stock Aitken Waterman penned "Nothing Can Divide Us" as the intended lead single for Astley's second album, Hold Me In Your Arms. However, Astley turned the song down, writing "She Wants to Dance With Me" himself in its place. SAW would ultimately give "Nothing Can Divide Us" to another act on their roster, Jason Donovan. Additionally, Astley would hire Phil Harding and Ian Curnow (who co-produced two songs on Whenever You Need Somebody) to produce the song; this and the rejection of "Nothing Can Divide Us" marked the start of Astley's breakaway from SAW, which would be finalized with his next album, Free.

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