By Hilary Porter

RICK Astley makes his eagerly awaited return to the South Coast this week following his thrilling performance at Let's Rock on Southampton Common last summer.

The 80's icon will play two local dates, visiting Portsmouth Guildhall on Thursday April 6 and Bournemouth International Centre on Friday April 7.

Talking about his revival The Never Gonna Give You Up singer told the Daily Echo he has been surprised at the success of his latest album 50, recorded to celebrate his big birthday. Released last February, it debuted at No 1.

Rick said: "I hadn't made any new material in donkeys years - ten years or more, and knowing I was going to turn 50, I thought I would before I get old and grey.

"Some people buy a Harley and drive across America, get a second wife or learn to surf but I thought I'd do this and do something for me."

"I've been doing gigs through the years and fans kept saying you need to make something new. They still love the old songs but there's room for new stuff."

Rick has been more surprised than anyone by his commercial success after the album shot to the top of the UK charts.

"I think trying to get an artist to the top of the charts who had records out 20 years ago is a bit of a fiction. Ok, Take That did it on a bigger scale , but there is a parallel in that sometimes people are ready to give it a go again."

Rick's career has now spanned 30 years, selling in excess of 19 million records and eight consecutive top 10 hits. Talking about his singles from the latest album, including 'Keep Singing' and 'Angels on my Side' he said he would be including these but promises to play all the older hits:

“People will lynch me if I didn’t play certain songs. I’m the same when I go see bands, I want to hear the new stuff but I also want to hear the songs that I grew up with.

“If you’ve been around like me and had a few top ten hits, then I understand that people want to be transported back to those days. Whether they were at school, first romance or whatever. I totally get that.”

Making his mark in 1987, aged just 21, people were shocked by the powerful, mature and soulful tone to his voice and his debut single Never Gonna Give You Up went on to top the charts. The rest of the world soon followed suit with Never Gonna Give You Up reaching Number one in 16 other countries including most of Europe, Japan, United States and Australia.

The album Whenever You Need Somebody entered the UK album charts at number one and sold over 15.2 million copies worldwide, making him the top selling British act of the year. It was a similar success story in the USA, as Rick became one of the few British artists to crack their market.

“I’ve no issue whatsoever about singing the big hits such as Never Gonna Give You Up, Together Forever and a few others. I didn’t do that for a long time.

“If I’d been doing them for 30 years I might be a bit sick of them, but now it kind of brings a smile to my face because I’m lucky to still be performing them at a decent level and I can see the reaction in the faces of the audience.”

In a bold career move, Rick left the music industry in the mid 90’s. The 15-year retirement gave him a chance to raise a family and come to terms with his meteoric rise to fame and fortune.

“I left at the right time, when I wasn’t really enjoying it anymore. I was a dad and I wanted to experience that properly. You get caught up in the whirlwind, but I thought actually ‘you don’t have to do this.’ I made a lot of money, had success around the world and had a real go at it.

“I see these artists that are penniless after working all their lives. It’s like a chill goes down my spine and I realise how lucky I was to have decent people around me and to come out unscathed. Also, you have to be a very special artist to keep it going, as people lose interest.

“You‘ve got to devote your whole life to it and I wasn’t capable of doing that at the time.”

By chance, Rick saw his popularity soar again in the middle of the last decade, partly due to the online craze of Rick-rolling and it has rekindled his passion for performing.

“Having a very long break from it, I’ve sort of rediscovered the pure joy of doing gigs. I also don’t do many interviews to promote shows. Back in the day I was doing interviews all day and with all due respect that’s not what I want to do. I want to be making and playing music.

“The record company would have you in a room doing interviews all day, they don’t care if you want to go out and play live because they don’t make much money out of that. Now, I get to choose what I want to do and what I don’t. I’m in a good place.”

Tickets for Portsmouth Guildhall: 0844 847 2362

Tickets for the BIC: 0844 576 3000