Real reason Rick Astley stepped away from successful pop career

When Never Gonna Give You Up first landed at radio stations in 1987, the song was an instant hit.

It topped the charts in 25 countries, including Australia, the UK and US and scored Rick Astley the Brit Award for Best Single the following year.

Released as the first single off Rick's debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody, the song made Rick an overnight superstar, unable to walk out his front door without fans or the paparazzi storming him.

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But while that level of fame might sound like bliss for some, Rick revealed it made him uncomfortable and was a big part of why he stepped away from the music industry just a few years later.

"It was a big call, but I think it was a very natural thing for me - I never really loved the fame thing," he told Nine entertainment editor, Richard Wilkins.

"I was actually properly famous for five minutes there, like where I couldn't really go anywhere or do anything without that being involved in every second of my life.

"But also I never fell out of love with music, I always say that, but I certainly fell out of love with the music business."

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It's hard to imagine Never Gonna Give You Up performed any other way than it is, but Rick revealed his music label, Stock Aitken Waterman originally wanted him to sing it as a duet.

"I think they had a lot of issues with the way I looked, because I looked about 11-years-old and I didn't sound like that, so I think they also saw me as just being almost too shy and a bit quiet," he said.

"But I think a lot of that kind of quietness, if you like, came from the fact that I was in a madhouse."

Rick Astley's new memoir, Never, is available for download and where all good books are sold