Rick plays the Pavilion theatre on April 10 for what will be his first UK tour in four years. Just don’t call it a comeback.

“I do gigs all the time, sometimes there far flung and exotic and other times they’re not. It’s different though on your own tour. It’s your own little gang and you’re off, so I’m really looking forward to it,” says Rick, 50.

Rick has a career that has spanned over 28 years, selling in excess of 19 million records and eight consecutive top 10 hits. Last month saw the release of his latest single, Keep Singing, which has received plenty of airplay on BBC Radio 2.

“I thought it would be nice to release something before the tour, so the audience knows a few of the tunes. Though people will lynch me if I didn’t play certain songs. I’m the same when I go see bands, I want to hear the new stuff but I also want to hear the songs that I grew up with” added Rick.

“If you’ve been around like me and had a few top ten hits, then I understand that people want to be transported back to those days. Whether they were at school, first romance or whatever. I totally get that.”

Making his mark in 1987, aged just 21, when people were shocked by the powerful, mature and soulful tone to his voice and his debut single Never Gonna Give You Up went on to top the charts. The rest of the world soon followed suit with Never Gonna Give You Up reaching Number one in 16 other countries including most of Europe, Japan, United States and Australia.

The album Whenever You Need Somebody entered the UK album charts at number one and sold over 15.2 million copies worldwide, making him the top selling British act of the year. It was a similar success story in the USA, as Rick became one of the few British artists to crack their market.

“I’ve no issue whatsoever about singing the big hits such as Never Gonna Give You Up, Together Forever and a few others. I didn’t do that for a long time.

“If I’d been doing them for 30 years I might be a bit sick of them, but now it kind of brings a smile to my face because I’m lucky to still be performing them at a decent level and I can see the reaction in the faces of the audience.”

In a bold career move, Rick left the music industry in the mid 90’s. The 15-year retirement gave him a chance to raise a family and come to terms with his meteoric rise to fame and fortune.

“I left at the right time, when I wasn’t really enjoying it anymore. I was a dad and I wanted to experience that properly. You get caught up in the whirlwind, but I thought actually ‘you don’t have to do this.’ I made a lot of money, had success around the world and had a real go at it.

“I see these artists that are penniless after working all their lives. It’s like a chill goes down my spine and I realise how lucky I was to have decent people around me and to come out unscathed. Also, you have to be a very special artist to keep it going, as people lose interest.

“You‘ve got to devote your whole life to it and I wasn’t capable of doing that at the time.”

By chance, Rick saw his popularity soar again in the middle of the last decade, partly due to the online craze of Rick-rolling and it has rekindled his passion for performing.

“Having a very long break from it, I’ve sort of rediscovered the pure joy of doing gigs. I also don’t do many interviews to promote shows. Back in the day I was doing interviews all day and with all due respect that’s not what I want to do. I want to be making and playing music.

“The record company would have you in a room doing interviews all day, they don’t care if you want to go out and play live because they don’t make much money out of that. Now, I get to choose what I want to do and what I don’t. I’m in a good place.”

• For more information please contact 0844 576 3000, or book online at bhlivetickets.co.uk.