NEWTON'S Rick Astley made sure he was on time for his appearance on BBC Breakfast, even if it meant he was still in his pyjamas.
The 1980s pop star - who also became known for featuring on internet memes - spoke to Breakfast presenters Sally Nugent and Jon Kay about his upcoming slot at the Glastonbury Festival.
Rick joins a line-up of music legends including Elton John and Guns N' Roses at this year's event.
Rick appeared on BBC Breakfast live from his South London home.
The Never Gonna Give You Up hitmaker, 57, looked as though he had not long been awake before telling the co-hosts about performing at Glastonbury this year.
The singer-songwriter, who returned to the charts in 2016 for the first time in nearly 30 years with the release of his number one album 50, will perform on the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm on June 24.
Astley said: “Obviously, it is an amazing honour and a privilege to play there, I get to play on the Pyramid stage which is absolutely bonkers to be honest.
“I’ll be early by the way, I’ll be very early on the Saturday, a bit too early so there you go.
“I’m still in my pyjamas now, I might do it in my pyjamas, to be honest.”
Pointing to his attire, he added: “They are actually my pyjamas.”
Twitter users subsequently made positive comments about his outfit choice, asking for it to be a regular feature following the broadcast of his interview.
It is not the first time Astley has been popular on the internet, becoming a meme sensation with Rickrolling, which involves tricking someone into clicking a link for something they want to view, only to be confronted with Astley’s 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up.
Talking about Glastonbury, the singer went on to describe himself as “still in shock” that he has the chance to perform at the world-famous festival in Somerset.
He said: “I’m ashamed to say I have never performed there, I’ve never even been to Glastonbury. I’ve dropped my daughter off several times.
“As a performer and someone who has been on stage most of my life, this one’s a big one, there’s no doubt about it.
“We’ve all done it, we’ve all watched Glastonbury on the BBC and gone, ‘wow that is monster’, so to actually walk out on that stage is going to be crazy.”
The singer said he had been booked to perform at Glastonbury in the year it was cancelled due to the pandemic and he thought, “that’s my shot gone”.
“I didn’t think we’d get an invite back simply because time moves on so quickly and they’ve got new artists and they’ve got a massive schedule to organise so I kind of did think that’s my chance gone,” he said.
“I was really completely made up when they got in touch, it’s a badge of honour.”
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