'It wasn't her personally': Rick Astley shares why he didn't think much of Kylie Minogue before he met her
Rick Astley has addressed why he didn't think much of Kylie Minogue at first.
The English singer recently released his autobiography Never.
In the book, Astley reveals he was skeptical of his team wanting to work with the Aussie star, who at the time was best known for Neighbours.
Now, in a new interview on the A Life of Greatness podcast, the singer has explained it "was nothing to do" with Minogue as a person but more about her soap actress status.
Watch the video above.
Rick Astley has explained why he was "baffled" his label wanted to work with Kylie Minogue. Instagram/ officialrickastley
Host Sarah Grynberg raised the topic of Minogue during the episode, asking Astley why he "didn't think so much" of the pop princess before meeting her for the first time.
"It wasn't her personally," the Never Gonna Give You Up singer said.
"It was the fact that the guys who had signed me wanted to work with, effectively, an actress soap star."
Astley worked with record producing trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), who went on to sign Minogue.
"I was like, hang on a minute, you're knocking out of the park at the moment. You could step up your game," Astley recalled thinking of the decision.
Astley explained many of his favourite artists at the time were black American R&B soul singers who he considered "some of the greatest voices in the world".
The singer said it was "nothing personal to Kylie or anyone who goes from acting to singing and vice versa", but he was simply "a bit baffled" over the choice.
"It was the fact that the guys who had signed me wanted to work with, effectively, an actress soap star." Redferns
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Astley said if he was in the producing shoes he would have been trying to work with "the biggest artist I could with the best voice I've ever heard."
"There was that moment of going, 'What are you doing?'"
The star concluded that of course, looking back, the choice "makes perfect sense" since Minogue has become such an international success in the pop music space.
In his autobiography, the star opened up about how his opinion of Minogue changed straight after he met her in person.
Astley recalled the singer was "so warm and lovely".
In 2018, the Aussie pop icon brought Astley out to perform his hit track Never Gonna Give You Up during her set at BBC Radio 2's Festival in a Day.
The pair reunited last year at the BBC Radio 2 festival, with Astley posting photos backstage with the star while wearing a shirt with her face on it.
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