Denmark: One-hit-wonder Rick Astley launches own beer

Pop singer Rick Astley, who became popular in 1987 with the international No. 1 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up,” is launching his own beer together with Danish craft beer brewery  Mikkeller from Copenhagen. Astley, who lives in London but is married to a Danish woman and has a daughter who is studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, is also friend of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, the founder of Mikkeller brewery. Since Astley is enjoying drinking beer himself he thought, that having his own beer might be the right thing to do. He decided on a “fruity pilsner lager,” but has not decided on the label or name yet.

He is following a trend of other celebrities, who released their own drinks. In 2006, hip-hop star Jay Z started promoting the champagne  Ace of Spades from Armand de Brignac Champagne, a company in which he acquired a majority in 2014. In 2009, singer and actor Justin Timberlake launched his own tequila brand Sauza 901. In 2011, singer-songwriter Dave Matthews released a line of wines named Dreaming Tree Wines.

After being very successful in 1987 with the hit “Never Gonna Give You Up,”  Rick Astley retired in 1993 from the music industry at the age of 27, when he could not repeat his early success.  In 2007, Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme known as rickrolling. In this prank, Web users are tricked into seeing Rick Astley's video "Never Gonna Give You Up" when they follow a falsified link. This made him again popular especially in younger age groups, which did not know his earlier success. After some unsuccessful attempts, Astley released in April 2016, aged 50, his next successful album called “50”, which reached number one on the Official UK Album Sales charts in June 2016.

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