Rick Astley: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 23:05, 31 July 2008

Now this is the story all about how My life got flipped, turned upside down And I’d like to take a minute just sit right there I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called bel-air

In west philadelfia born and raised On the playground where I spent most of my days Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school When a couple of guys said "we’re up in no good" Started making trouble in my neighbourhood I got in one little fight and my mom got scared And said "you’re moving with your aunte and uncle in bel-air"

I whistled for a cab and when it came near the License plate said "fresh" and had a dice in the mirror If anything I could say that this cab was rare But I thought now forget it, yo home to bel-air

I pulled up to a house about seven or eight And I yelled to the cabby "yo, home smell you later" Looked at my kingdom I was finally there To settle my throne as the prince of bel-air

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+Now this is the story all about how
-{{Infobox Musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
+My life got flipped, turned upside down
-| Name                = Rick Astley
+And I’d like to take a minute just sit right there
-| Img                 =
+I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called bel-air
-| Background          = solo_singer
-| Birth_name          = Richard Paul Astley
-| Born                = {{birth date and age|1966|2|6|}}
-| Origin              =  [[Newton-le-Willows]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]]
-| Instrument          = [[Vocals]], [[Guitar]]
-| Voice_type          = [[Bass (vocal range)|Bass]]-[[baritone]]
-| Genre               = [[Pop music|Pop]]<br>[[Blue-eyed soul]]
-| Occupation          = [[Singer-songwriter]]
-| Years_active        = 1985-present
-| Label               = [[Sony BMG]]
-| Associated_acts     = [[FBI (band)|FBI]]<br />[[Stock Aitken Waterman]]
-| URL                 = http://www.rickastley.co.uk/
-| Notable_instruments =
-}}
+In west philadelfia born and raised
-'''Richard Paul Astley''' (born [[February 6]] [[1966]]) is an [[England|English]] [[singer]], [[songwriter]], [[musician]]. He was born in [[Newton-le-Willows]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]]. Astley has also lived in [[London Borough of Richmond upon Thames|Richmond]], in [[Surrey]] with his [[Danish people|Danish]] girlfriend, [[Lene Bausager]], and their daughter, Emilie.<ref>{{cite web | work=Manchester UK | title=Manchester Popular & Rock Music (11 of 11) | url=http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/popmusic11.html | last=Moss|first=John | accessdate=2007-07-01}}</ref>
+On the playground where I spent most of my days
+Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool
+And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school
+When a couple of guys said "we’re up in no good"
+Started making trouble in my neighbourhood
+I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
+And said "you’re moving with your aunte and uncle in bel-air"
-==Career==
+I whistled for a cab and when it came near the
-In 1985, Astley decided he was never gonna give you up, and was playing the club circuit as a drummer with a [[soul music|soul]] band named FBI when he was noticed by the [[record producer]] [[Pete Waterman]] and persuaded to come to [[London]] to work at the [[PWL]] recording studio. Under the tutelage of the production team of [[Mike Stock]], [[Matt Aitken]] and [[Pete Waterman]], known as [[Stock Aitken Waterman]], Astley was taught about the [[sound recording and reproduction|recording]] process and groomed for his future career, supposedly starting off as the [[recording studio]] '[[gofer|tea boy]]'. During this time, Astley also changed his name to (Ricardo) Bocanegra as a tribute to his Mexican parents who had changed their Hispanic names after immigrating to Britain. However, Waterman convinced him to change his name back due to the unusual pronunciation and existing reputation with his original name.
+License plate said "fresh" and had a dice in the mirror
+If anything I could say that this cab was rare
+But I thought now forget it, yo home to bel-air
+I pulled up to a house about seven or eight
-During much of his career, due to his deep baritone voice, many listeners assumed he was [[black (people)|black]]. In one instance, the comedic entertainer [[Sinbad (actor)|Sinbad]] discussed him with a talk-show host, expressing his surprise that Astley was not "one of the brothers." In another, it was widely believed for years that he was the voice behind the chorus of [[Cathy Dennis]] 's song "Just Another Dream", when in fact the true singer was a black discjockey known as Dancin' Danny D. Even after his visual appearance, it was still popular belief that he was [[mime artist|miming]] for a [[black American]] singer.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rick Astley |work=ShakeTheTV.com |url=http://www.shakethetv.com/lyrics-videos-bio/Rick+Astley }}</ref> His brother [[Mike Astley]] helped to refute this assertion. <!--  Commented out: [[Image:Rick Astley.gif|thumb|Rick Astley in [[Never Gonna Give You Up]].]] -->
+And I yelled to the cabby "yo, home smell you later"
+Looked at my kingdom I was finally there
-His first [[single (music)|single]] was the little-known "[[When You Gonna]]," released as a collaboration with [[Lisa Carter]], but his first solo offering was "[[Never Gonna Give You Up]]," released in [[1987 in music|1987]]. It became an immediate success, spending five weeks at the top of the [[The Official UK Charts Company|British charts]] and becoming the year's highest-selling single. It was the first of 13 (world-wide) Top 30 [[chart-topper|hit]] singles for him.
+To settle my throne as the prince of bel-air
-The album ''[[Whenever You Need Somebody]]'' also reached [[Chart-topper|Number One]] in the UK, and the hit singles continued, including the title track and a cover of [[Nat King Cole]]'s "[[When I Fall in Love]]."
-On [[12 March]] [[1988 in music|1988]], "[[Never Gonna Give You Up]]" also topped the [[Billboard charts|U.S. singles chart]] and was followed by a second U.S. #1 on [[18 June]] with his second U.S. single release, "[[Together Forever (Rick Astley song)|Together Forever]]." In 1989 he was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]] for Best New Artist of the Year.  He lost to [[Tracy Chapman]].[[Image:FBI with Astley.jpg|thumb|The group [[FBI (band)|FBI]], from left to right, Kevin Needham, '''Rick Astley''', Will Hopper, Peter Dale, & Greg Smee, in [[1984 in music|1984]].]]
-By the end of the decade, Astley had parted company with Stock Aitken Waterman. He achieved one more major success with the [[1991 in music|1991]] [[ballad]] "[[Cry for Help (song)|Cry for Help]]," which reached the [[Top 40|Top 10]] in both the UK and the US.
-In 1991 the [[RIAA]] certified that two million copies of ''[[Whenever You Need Somebody]]'' had been sold. Total world sales of Astley's records (including singles, albums and compilation inclusions) have since reached 39.9 million.
-His next album, ''[[Body & Soul (Rick Astley album)|Body and Soul]]'', was released in 1993. The album did not chart in the UK but managed to make the [[Billboard 200]], peaking at #182. The two singles, ''The Ones You Love'' and ''Hopelessly'', performed very well on the adult contemporary chart, peaking at #19 and #4 respectively. ''Hopelessly'' also crossed over and peaked at #31 on the [[Top 40 Mainstream]] chart.
-For much of the [[1990s]] and early [[2000s]], Astley remained largely out of the spotlight.
-Almost 10 years after ''[[Body & Soul (Rick Astley album)|Body and Soul]]'', Rick finally returned to the music world and released "[[Keep It Turned On]]" in 2002. The album featured the single "[[Sleeping (song)|Sleeping]]", which became a minor club hit, thanks to a set of remixes from U.S. house producer Todd Terry.
-In March, 2005, Astley released the album ''[[Portrait (Rick Astley album)|Portrait]]'' in which he [[cover version|covered]] many classic standards such as "[[Vincent (song)|Vincent]],"<ref>{{cite web |format=video |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttfTJuU3frA&feature=related |last=Astley|first=Rick |title=Vincent (Live) |publisher=[[YouTube]] }}</ref> "[[Nature Boy (song)|Nature Boy]]" and "[[They Long to Be) Close to You|Close to You]]".
-In early 2006, Astley withdrew unexpectedly at the [[The eleventh hour|eleventh hour]] from appearing on the [[BBC TV]] celebrity/pro duets show ''[[Just the Two of Us (series)|Just the Two of Us]]'' after committing to do so. This led to criticism from those in the entertainment industry and media. His place was filled by singer [[Russell Watson]], who eventually won the competition. The BBC failed to explain that Astley's withdrawal was due to his girlfriend [[Lene Bausager]] being nominated for the 2006 [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Live Action Short Film|Best Live Action Short Film]] for the [[Sean Ellis]] film ''[[Cashback (film)|Cashback]]'', where she was the main producer. Astley would have missed a crucial part of the show by attending the awards ceremony and so withdrew before the show began.<ref>[http://www.digitalhit.com/galleries/22/1/29 Photo 29 Lene Bausager and Rick Astley | 78th Annual Academy Awards<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
-Based on various music charts in the [[United Kingdom|UK]], [[United States|US]] and [[Canada]], Astley has charted a grand total of 14 (different) hit singles and 6 (different) hit albums, as of March 2006. In April of 2008, the album "The Ultimate Collection: Rick Astley" was released by Sony BMG and by early May it had reached #17 on the UK Top 40 Albums Chart. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7383141.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Madonna celebrates chart double<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
-==Rickroll internet phenomenon==
-{{main|Rickroll|Never Gonna Give You Up}}
-In 2007<!--EDITORS PLEASE READ. THE RICKROLL INTERNET MEME BEGAN IN 2007, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE DATE TO 2008 BECAUSE THIS IS NOT ACCURATE.--><ref name="Date">{{cite web |url=http://www.google.com/trends?q=rick+astley%2C+rickroll%2C+rick+roll%2C+never+gonna+give+you+up&ctab=0&geo=all&date=ytd&sort=0|title=Rick Roll related Google Trends|publisher=[[Google]]|work=[[Google Trends]]|accessdate=2008-04-04|language=English}}</ref> Rick Astley became the subject of a [[viral phenomenon|viral]] [[Internet meme]] in which an estimated 25 million<!-- Updated numbers: 6,555,869 + 7,572,975 + 10,804,832 = 24,933,676 (source: YouTube)--> Internet users were tricked into watching Rick Astley's  video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by posting it under the name of other popular video titles.<ref>{{cite news |first=Mark  |last=Savage  |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Rickrolling and the league of web fame   |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7325280.stm |publisher=[[BBC]] |work=[[BBC News]] |date=2008-04-01 |accessdate=2008-04-02 }}</ref> The practice is now known as [[Rickroll]]ing. The phenomenon became so popular that on [[April Fools' Day|April 1, 2008]], [[YouTube]] pranked the Internet community by making every single featured video  on the front page a Rickroll. On the July 14th broadcast of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Rickrolling got a mention when correspondant John Oliver was joking about Iran's nuclear program and the Internet. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/31/youtube-rickrolls-users/|title=YouTube RickRolls Users|publisher=[[TechCrunch]]|accessdate=2008-06-01|language=English}}</ref>
-==Discography==
-{{main|Rick Astley discography}}
-Canada Top data: for singles and albums from The Record magazine.  US Top data: for singles from [[Billboard magazine|The Billboard Hot 100]], for albums from [[Billboard magazine|The Billboard 200]]; UK Top data for singles and albums is from [[UK Singles Chart]].
-==See also==
-{{wikiquote|Rick Astley}}
-*[[List of number-one hits (United States)]]
-*[[List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)]]
-*[[List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)]]
-*[[List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart]]
-*[[Rickroll]]
-==References==
-{{reflist}}
-==External links==
-*[http://www.rickastley.co.uk/ Official Rick Astley website]
-{{Rick Astley}}
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Astley, Rick}}
-[[Category:1966 births]]
-[[Category:English male singers]]
-[[Category:English musicians]]
-[[Category:English pop singers]]
-[[Category:Living people]]
-[[Category:Music from London]]
-[[Category:Blue-eyed soul singers]]
-[[Category:Polydor Records artists]]
-[[Category:Rick Astley]]
-[[Category:People from Newton-le-Willows]]
-[[de:Rick Astley]]
-[[es:Rick Astley]]
-[[eo:Rick Astley]]
-[[fr:Rick Astley]]
-[[id:Rick Astley]]
-[[it:Rick Astley]]
-[[nl:Rick Astley]]
-[[ja:リック・アストリー]]
-[[pl:Rick Astley]]
-[[pt:Rick Astley]]
-[[ru:Эстли, Рик]]
-[[fi:Rick Astley]]
-[[sv:Rick Astley]]
-[[tl:Rick Astley]]
-[[uk:Рік Естлі]]
-[[bg:Рик Астли]]
-[[zh:瑞克·艾斯利]]