Born just shy of a year after I was, Rick Astley’s recording career took off after working with the famed English production team of Stock, Aiken and Waterman. Their formulaic approach of combining mainstream synth-pop with attractive singers brought them much success, and Rick’s 1987 debut album
Whenever You Need Somebody was an example of that. The record went multi-platinum in the UK (where it went to number 1), the US (where it went to number 10) and Canada (where it went to number 2). It also produced five hit singles.
