Rick Astley opened up about on the “massive” ramifications of a recent health diagnosis on This Morning today.
The beloved 1980s pop fave, 57, revealed he has suffered hearing loss after years of performing music – including playing drums before he hit the big time with Stock Aitken Waterman.
Singer Rick explained to This Morning co-hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond during Tuesday’s (October 24) programme he now makes use of hearing aids.
Rick Astley issues health update on This Morning today
The Never Gonna Give You Up hitmaker told how he’d gone to have his ears checked after detecting changes in his hearing during performances.
Rick said: “We have in-ears when we play live. And I’ve been turning them down over the past few years because I’ve noticed that it’s been too loud when I come off stage. I can hear it ringing.”
He went on: “I do now have hearing aids, and I’m just getting on that journey. Finding out when it is good to use them.”
I’m not hearing a conversation at the other end of a dinner table.
He then explained the problems he’d been having before using them and how they’ve changed his life.
“It’s usually at social situations. As I’m not hearing a conversation at the other end of a dinner table.”
‘I have been around a lot of loud music’
Rick added he believes the apparent deterioration in his hearing the loss is due to a couple of different reasons.
“I’m sure it’s been affected partly by my age,” he said. “But I have been around a lot of loud music.”
Rick is re-recording his most unforgettable song with ‘wrong’ lyrics, as part of a hearing campaign to battle stigma attached to wearing hearing aids.
He said: “It really matters to me because I’ve spent all my life relying on my ears to do all that… So it’s a massive part of my life.”
However, it sounds like Rick – who performed at Glastonbury over the summer – doesn’t intend to allow his hearing loss to impact negatively on his work.
“The thrill of doing live gigs has never left me,” he said. “What a fun thing to do – to get to do Glastonbury at my age.”
And in mentioning his new music, Rick added: “I started thinking about my age and at what point do you sort of say to yourself, okay I’ve done what I wanted to do. As I have done a lot of things I wanted to do.
“But I always think there is a horizon, there is something else to look forward to and something new. Look at the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney – all those guys who wrote the first page in the book.
“It’s about where I am in life and I feel like I’m there. I am very happy, I’m extremely lucky.”
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This Morning airs on ITV, weekdays, from 10am.
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