Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" Quiz

Answer: love

"We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I"

So starts our "Rickroll".

Richard Paul Astley (born 6th February, 1966) is a Lancashire lad, but let's not hold that against him!

Answer: guy

"A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy"

In 1985, Rick was working as a driver by day and a drummer for the band FBI by night. When the lead singer left, Rick took over and he came to the attention of Pete Waterman of Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

Answer: feeling

"I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand"

Stock, Aitken and Waterman hired most of FBI too. Rick started out as the general gopher and learned about the recording process. This was to help him overcome his shyness.

Answer: down

"Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down"

His first record released was the disco song, "When You Gonna" billed as Rick And Lisa (Carter). It was not promoted and therefore did not trouble the charts.

Answer: desert

""Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry"

"Never Gonna Give You Up" was Rick's first solo single and it went to the top of the UK charts and stayed there for five weeks.

Answer: goodbye

"Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you"

Adiós, au revoir and adiaŭ are goodbye in Spanish, French and Esperanto.

"Never Gonna Give You Up" hit the top of the charts in 25 countries eventually including New Zealand, the Netherlands and Norway.

Answer: so long

"We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it"

Rick Astley's next seven singles all featured in the top ten of the UK singles chart. According "The Guinness Book of Records", he was the first male solo artist to achieve that. More than 25 years later, no other solo male artist has managed to copy this feat.

Answer: it

"Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it"

Rick Astley started to write his own songs including "She Wants to Dance with Me" which peaked at number six on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles charts. He gradually moved away from his original pop sound towards Soul music.

Answer: blind

"And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see"

Aged only 27, Rick Astley retired to devote his time to raising his daughter. He did put his talents to use though as a backing singer for the "Lion King" soundtrack. While retired, he continued to write songs and in 2002 he returned to recording music.

Answer: False

Rick Astley has probably been "Rickrolled" more than anybody else! I have seen and read several interviews of him in which he stated that soon after the phenomena started, almost every link sent to him by friends would be a "Rickroll".

"Rickrolling" is still going on and the official video on YouYube has had in excess of 90,000,000 hits.