When you want to keep having Top 5s - that's a certain type of pressure. He met his match in Leena, a Danish promoter for his new record label, RCA, in 1988, and they have been together ever since. They had a daughter together in 1992, in between two albums, the moderately successful Free (1991), and the undeniable turkey that was Body and Soul (1993)."My heart wasn't in Body and Soul," says Astley "And it was a disaster. I was so bummed out by it all that I thought I didn't want to do it anymore. He was never photographed falling out of a nightclub, and he didn't succumb to the temptations of a willing groupie.
In fact, for his entire time with SAW, Astley was still seeing his childhood sweetheart, Jake - a girl he met at a cricket club disco."I wasn't tempted by all those girls," says Astley. "Most girls who throw themselves at people they don't know are..." Are what? "I don't know It just makes you cynical. I had my 15 minutes of being the new boy of pop, like lots of people before and after me. Overnight, everyone starts treating you differently, and perceives you differently."Such adult wisdom from a 21-year-old is admirable, if hard to swallow.
Wasn't he ever tempted to cash in on his new-found fame? "Listen, it doesn't matter if you're famous or not, there are guys who like sleeping around with girls, and there are guys who don't. I admire the female form in all its glory, but if you're with someone you're with someone and that's it. If I'd been single at the time, then it all might have been very different, but I wasn't."Jake and Rick separated amicably at the same time that the singer was parting ways with SAW But Astley was not single for long. Even though I knew 70 per cent of the people reading it know it's rubbish and will probably turn over the page and read about the football or whatever, it still hurts. If you're in the playground, and some kid starts calling you names, it hurts."What turned much of the sensation-seeking media against Astley was that the sensibly suited boy was never much of a story.
