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Rick Astley is one of Britain’s finest musical artists of all time, with multiple platinum singles and albums spanning his 40-year career.
But life in the music industry has taken its toll on the star’s hearing.
The 57-year-old musician has just teamed up with Specsavers to raise awareness for hearing loss, as the company’s research shows that more than half (57 percent) of adults have taken no action to address changes in their hearing.
He even rerecorded a version of his biggest and best-known song, Never Gonna Give You Up, with a new batch of bizarre lyrics to highlight how hearing loss can leave you mishearing lyrics. Watch how it was made here.
Rick himself has noticed a loss of frequency “over the last few years”, he exclusively told Express.co.uk. And, as a result, has begun wearing hearing aids to help out his day-to-day life.
“It’s very new,” Rick said of his hearing aids. “My hearing is more… I find I’m struggling when there’s other noise going on. So I’m hearing everything you’re saying, and when I’m on phone calls – everything is fine. I probably have the TV on a little louder than most people, the radio on in the car a little bit louder than most people.”
Rick admitted that he was more concerned about the social side of life than his rock star persona.
“I was in a bar,” he recalled. “And we were having a chat, and I could hear everything. And every now and then somebody says something and I’m like… either they talk really quiet or I’ve lost [hearing]. And that’s something that’s been happening over the last few years.”
As he eases into his hearing aid journey, Rick said he’s working hard to acclimatise to them. “I haven’t gotten used to saying: ‘I’ll take them [out with me] and if I’m struggling, I’ll pop ’em in.'”
Surely, for an artist of Rick’s calibre, who has travelled the planet playing music to countless people, the degradation of his hearing must be a scary reality. “Yeah, but it’s not really in my musical life,” he confessed. “It’s missing out on things.”
Rick continued: “It’s missing out on a joke at a dinner table. I have known a couple of producers who, as they’ve got much older, their hearing has gone. And it’s devastating.”
“I’m super lucky at the moment,” he went on. “Some people just fall off a cliff with their hearing. There’s a huge devastating noise where they lose their hearing or in some devastating accident. Mine is just wear and tear.
“There is still a stigma about having hearing aids. I’m never going to be able to wear [my hearing aids] at gigs – for me it’s just life. It’s the social side of life I don’t want to miss out on.”
Book a free hearing test at Specsavers now.