RESURGENT Rick Astley plays Dalby Forest, near Pickering, tomorrow with support from fellow soul singer Rumer.

The Newton-le-Willows pop icon is appearing as part of Forest Live, the summer concert series promoted by the Forestry Commission in spectacular woodland locations around the country. Elbow follow suit at Dalby on Saturday.

Astley is enjoying a remarkable chart resurrection. His gold-selling album 50, marking his 50th birthday in February last year, gave the Brit Award-winning singer his first number one album in 29 years, while the singles Keep Singing and Angels On My Side drew nearly 1.8m views on VEVO and 600,000 streams on Spotify.

Astley was only 21 when he released his never forgotten debut single Never Gonna Give You Up, Britain's biggest-selling song in 1987, when the Stock Aitken Waterman number hit the top spot in 16 countries. It became the centrepiece of his 15 million-selling debut album Whenever You Need Somebody, whose success stretched to breaching the American top ten too.

Astley holds the distinction of being the first male solo artist to see his first eight singles reach the British top ten as the hits continued to flow with Whenever You Need Somebody; When I Fall In Love/My Arms Keep Missing You; Together Forever, She Wants To Dance With Me; Take Me To Your Heart; Hold Me In Your Arms and Cry For Help.

"This year sees me celebrating 30 years in the music business since my first number one hit," says Astley, who has played 17 sold-out indoor dates already in this anniversary year, including Harrogate International Centre in March. "Now I can’t wait to perform as a part of Forest Live and I really hope you can make one of the dates to enjoy the experience with me.”

Astley, by the way, has brewed his own beer with the Danish microbrewery Mikkeller, Astley's Northern Hop Lager, that you can hold in your hands at tomorrow's 7.30pm gig.

Tickets are still available at £36.50, plus £4.15 booking fee, on 03000 680400 or online at forestry.gov.uk/music