TEAM RNS PRESENTS

ARTIST: Rick Astley

TITLE: Platinum And Gold Collection

LABEL: RCA/BMG Heritage

RIPPER: Team RNS

216kbps avg - Pop
0hr 45min total- 73.3mb

RELEASE DATE: 2004-03-09
RIP DATE: 2004-03-24

01 Never Gonna Give You Up        3:32

03 She Wants To Dance With Me     3:15
04 It Would Take A Strong, Strong 3:38

05 Cry For Help                   4:50
06 Giving Up On Love              4:07

08 My Arms Keep Missing You       3:14
09 I'll Never Set You Free        3:26
10 Just Good Friends              3:50
11 I'll Be Fine                   3:47
12 Some Kinda Love                4:24

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

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.

When FBI's lead singer left the band,
Rick volunteered to take over the role.
It coincided well with Dave and Tony's
invitation to record producer Pete
Waterman to come and see FBI's act.
Waterman had liked what he'd heard but the
offer was exclusively for Rick and not
the band. Rick was very much a band
member. Dedicated to FBI, he showed
his loyalty by refusing the offer.

One year on, it was apparent to everyone,
including FBI, that Rick's talents were
shining through the band. Realising
that they were holding him back and
feeling guilty that Rick had missed out on
the opportunity of a life-time, Rick had
Dave & Tony contact Pete Waterman and
Rick was soon destined for London,
home to PWL Studios.

PWL studios were the base of operations
to hit-making producers Stock, Aitken &
Waterman. Here Rick received a
ground-floor apprenticeship in the
record industry. Rick's main role was that
of Tape-Op but his genuine interest in
the studio meant that Rick got involved
whenever he could and learnt to record
and produce music from some of the
World's best. Now familiarized with the
task at hand, Rick's debut single "Never
Gonna Give You Up" was recorded on new
years day 1987, although its release
was held back to August, when the market
was felt to be just right for it.

Upon its release "Never Gonna Give You
Up" shot to Number 1 and remained
there for 5 weeks. It was Britain's
largest selling single of that year.
"Whenever You Need Somebody" was the
follow up single and this hit Number 1
in 7 countries. Including 4
Astley-penned songs, the album "Whenever
You Need Somebody" entered the UK album
charts at Number 1 and sold over 15.2
million copies worldwide, making him
the top selling British act of the
year. At the 1988 BPI Awards (the UK's
Grammy equivalent), Rick scooped Best
Single Award for "Never Gonna Give You
Up". He performed the song in front of
an estimated television audience of 100

Christmas 1987 was marked with a double
AA single release. It featured a cover
of Nat King Cole's "When I Fall In
Love", and in the New Year it was
flipped to "My Arms Keep Missing You".
"Together Forever" completed the released
tracks from the album, peaking at number

It was a similar success story in the USA,
as Rick became one of the few British
artists to crack their market. Rick's
American success was reinforced with a
second Number 1 single, "Together
Forever". "It Would Take a Strong Strong
Man" became another Top 10 single and the
album also reached a position within the
Top 10 selling close to 2 million
copies. It earned him a 1988 Grammy
nomination as Best New Artist.

A fire in the PWL studios, destroying
the majority of Rick's new material
unfortunately delayed the release of
his 2nd album. It finally surfaced in
January 1989 and titled "Hold Me In Your
Arms" it contained Rick's first
self-penned single "She Wants To Dance
With Me" which he also co-produced.
Reaching another Top 10 position, it was
followed later in the year by "Take Me
To Your Heart" and another song written
by Rick, "Hold Me In Your Arms". In
December, Rick set off on a World tour.
The UK, US, Canada, Australia and Japan
were amongst the 15 countries visited and
contained over 70 shows. Both concerts
held at Wembley Arena were sell-outs.

On completion of the tour, Rick was proud
of what he had accomplished with Stock,
Aitken & Waterman but had visions of
his career going in a different
direction. Being interested in all
aspects of the industry, Rick wanted to
explore more avenues as a musician. In
addition, the press were beginning to
hassle Rick and he wanted to prove that
there was more to him than being merely
a singer. He signed directly to RCA/BMG
Worldwide, which allowed a greater
degree of artistic control. Now under
the management of Tops Henderson, his
former road manager, Rick began
co-writing material with the likes of
Level 42's Mark King and Climie Fisher's
Rob Fisher. Rick co-produced an album,
aptly named "Free" which was released
in 1991. Musical contributions came from
Art of Noise's Ann Dudley, who scored
string arrangements and gospel star
Andrae Crouch who arranged the choir
featured in Cry For Help, Rick's next
single. Elton John also featured on the
album, playing the piano on 2
Rick-written songs. Rick silenced his
critics with "Cry For Help" becoming yet
another Top 10 record that placed him
in the Guinness Book of Records becoming
the first male solo artist to have his
first 8 singles reach the Top 10 in the
UK, an achievement which has still to
be beaten. The album "Free" was
another success, again sitting inside
the Top 10. The singles "Move Right Out"
and "Never Knew Love" were also released.

In 1993, Rick returned to the scene
with the album "Body & Soul". Rick
scribed all of the tracks on this album
himself, co-writing with artists such as
Rob Fisher and Lisa Stansfield. There
were two singles taken from "Body &
Soul", "The Ones You Love" and
"Hopelessly". At the same time Rick's
family was also flourishing with the
birth of his daughter. Not wanting to
compromise his family life, the album
didn't get the promotion it could have
had. Despite this, the singles still
charted but Rick felt it was time to
'hang up his boots' and retire from the
business as a performer.

Rick likes to spend any spare time that
he has with his young daughter.

In 1998, Rick considered a return to
the limelight possibly re-uniting
himself with Pete Waterman but this was
not to be. Instead he has decided to put
together another album featuring more
self-penned material. Rick believes
it's his best material to date. It has
been long awaited by millions of Rick
fans all over the world