RICK Astley has admitted hit Never Gonna Give You Up is a “s* song” — but Glastonbury turned it into something magical.
The singer, 58, belted out his 1987 No1 hit in front of adoring young crowds at last year’s festival.
And he said: “Festivals – and Glastonbury particularly – have an almost magical ability to elevate s* songs.”
He added: “It’s basically what happened with Never Gonna Give You Up. Suddenly you just find yourself singing along.”
Rick was catapulted to instant fame with his debut single.
The 58-year-old says: “My most ridiculous moment of celebrity came when I was very high up a mountain in the Italian alps and two nuns asked me to sign their bibles.
“I just thought, ‘OK, fine. I’m not sure what’s going on here but that’s just silly.’ I signed the first page, but it just made me just think, ‘OK, that’s what happens when you become like…famous’.
“For three or four years I was actually properly famous, to the point of playing arenas in Tasmania.”
He later quit the music business after a string of top ten hits before returning in 2016.
However, he scoffs at the idea of him being a “national treasure”, saying it was “a lot of b**ks”.
He says: “When I hear people describe me as a national treasure, I think, ‘It’s the end of my career’.”
- RICK has a new album, Are We There Yet?, and is touring the UK, headlining Latitude in July.