Rickroll alert! Be careful about clicking on email links from tricky friends and on Web sites known to have a playful sense of humor for the next few months. Producer and songwriter Pete Waterman, one third of the team behind Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and scores of other hits, has been tapped to write the U.K.’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Waterman, who along with Mike Stock and Matt Aitken ruled the pop and dance charts in the U.K. and elsewhere from the mid-80s to the early ’90s, was drafted to help Britain regain its former place among the winners of the annual quest to find the best and brightest of Europe, according to the BBC.
“Eurovision is one of those iconic competitions that has stood the test of time and keeps coming up with great acts, great tunes and great performances,” Waterman said.
“Life’s full of challenges and I’m relishing the opportunity to put my own stamp on this one.”
Waterman’s composition will be performed during the annual ceremony set to be held in Oslo, Norway, in May. And if his track record is any indication, the rest of the Eurovision competitors had better start worrying.
Beginning in 1984, Stock Aitken Waterman, or SAW as they were commonly known, wrote and/or produced hundreds of hit songs for artists including Astley, Kylie Minogue (“I Should Be So Lucky,” “The Locomotion”), Bananarama (“I Heard a Rumour,” “Venus”), Dead or Alive (“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” “Brand New Lover”), Jason Donovan (“Too Many Broken Hearts”), Lonnie Gordon (“Happenin’ All Over Again”) and Samantha Fox (“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now”).
The trio was so successful legends like Donna Summer, Sir Cliff Richard, Debbie Harry, Sir Elton John and – believe it or not – Judas Priest soon came calling. (The three tracks SAW reportedly recorded in the late '80s with Priest were never released, but are believed to still exist.)
Before it was all over in 1993, the Stock Aitken Waterman team scored more than 100 Top 40 U.K hits and earned an estimated £60 million (about $104 million) for their efforts.