Rick Astley

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/wiki/Rick Astleycreator

"Duh doom, duh doom, duh doom, pada da da."

Richard Paul "Rick" Astley (born 6 February 1966, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Astley is married to producer Lene Bausager and has one daughter. Astley has released or appeared on recordings that have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. He is best known for his 1987 hit single in 16 countries, "Never Gonna Give You Up".

After fading into obscurity in the 1990s, Astley made a comeback in 2007 when he became a Memetic Mutation, as his video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" became part of a popular meme known as Rickrolling. Astley was voted by Internet users "Best Act Ever" at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008. Performed a Rickroll live in person on the Cartoon Network float at the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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Rick Astley's videos:

• Never Gonna Give You Up
• Together Forever
• Whenever You Need Somebody
• She Wants To Dance With Me (Extended Version)
• Cry for Help
• Lights Out
• Take Me To Your Heart

Rick Astley provides examples of the following tropes:

• Ascended Meme
• Career Resurrection: Probably due to success of the Rickroll, Rick Astley has recorded his first single in 17 years: Lights Out.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: The leading girl of Whenever You Need Somebody
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Cry for Help is all about this.
• The Eighties
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Let his hair grow in The Nineties. See his video "Cry for Help".
• Rickroll: He is the trope himself.
• One-Hit Wonder: "Never Gonna Give You Up," to some people, especially those who first heard the song after its Memetic Mutation.
• Orbital Shot: His Lights Out music video.
• Overly Pre-Prepared Gag: That Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends "lead-up" went on for so long that it would have been perfectly reasonable to turn to another show and miss the payoff completely.
• Signature Song: Never Gonna Give You Up
• Totally Radical: The videos are very Eighties.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The effect of the live Rickroll was weakened somewhat due to the trailer stating Rick Astley would be making a guest appearance.
• Vocal Dissonance: His singing voice is so deep and it makes such a contrast with his red hair and pale skin, that he was believed to be the front man for a black singer. In fact, this happened when he sent his first tapes to music executives -- he had to sing on-stage to convince them that yes, he was the one singing.