Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue are two pop stars who rose to fame in the 1980s with the little help of the same producers. However, that wasn’t enough for Rick to become an immediate fan.
The Never Gonna Give You Up singer, who is appearing on Sunday Brunch today (December 1), gained popularity after working with production company Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). Kylie, on the other hand, began as a TV actor in Neighbours, and later found similar success in music.
Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue ‘feud’
In his memoir, Never, Rick detailed his so-called “feud” with the Australian star.
Following the release of his smash hit, Never Gonna Give You Up, SAW created another chart-topper for Kylie titled I Should Be So Lucky. Crafted within just 40 minutes, the song sounded very similar to Rick’s already-released single.
“My friend Mike Duffy had produced it very much in the style of SAW. He told me she was great, but I’ve got to be honest, when I first heard about her, I thought it was Mandy Smith all over again,” he recalled.
Mandy was a short-lived pop star from the ’80s.
Rick continued: “SAW making a record with someone because they were famous, without any thought as to whether they were a singer: ‘God, as if people don’t think they’re naff enough already now they’re making a record with a soap star.’”
‘My snootiness lasted about 10 seconds’
While promoting the book on the Life of Greatness podcast, Rick appeared to backtrack on his words slightly.
“It wasn’t her personally,” Rick stated. “It was the fact that the guys who had signed me wanted to work with, effectively, an actress soap star.”
The chart-topping singer didn’t enjoy being compared or categorised in the same lane as Kylie when he first started. At the beginning of her career, she was known for role as Charlene Robinson on soap Neighbours.
In his same interview, Rick admitted that he told the producers they could “step up” their game” when they invited her record in the UK. “Why are you not maybe trying to aim higher?” he asked.
“There’s nothing personal to Kylie, or anyone who goes from acting to singing, and vice versa or whatever, right?” Rick continued, stating he was “simply saying I was a bit baffled by it”.
However, in his book he claimed the “snootiness” lasted “about 10 seconds” once the pair met. Describing her as “fantastic,” Rick revealed she was such a “warm and lovely” person “without airs and graces.”
Despite a music career going strong after 35 years, Rick confessed that his prediction that his prediction that she “won’t last” and that she is “bound to go back to acting” was wrong.
In 2018, the pair shared the stage to perform a mash-up of Never Gonna Give You Up and I Should Be So Lucky at Hyde Park.
Read more: Kylie Minogue feels ‘duped’ by Neighbours’ unexpected return
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