Rick Astley breaks down in tears on stage as he admits he lived ‘in a tin box in a field’

Rick Astley struggled to hold back tears on stage as he opened up about his ‘unconventional’ childhood.

The pop icon shot to fame at the age of 21 with his number one hit single Never Gonna Give You Up in the late 1980s. Since then the hitmaker has gone from strength to strength, performing at Glastonbury and singing the nation into the new year.

The chart-topper is currently on a brief tour around the UK to promote his new tell-all book, Never. His brutally honest memoir includes personal anecdotes from his childhood in Newton-le-Willows that ultimately led to his music career.During an emotional evening at Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, he spoke frankly about his unusual childhood and his turbulent relationship with his parents.

In a conversation with Nihal Arthanayake, the 58-year-old singer explained that after his parents’ passing, he sought the blessing of his family and siblings to discuss his formative years in the book.The dad-of-one explained: “I wouldn’t say I’ve been given a green light, but you know, it’s a difficult thing because it’s their story as well.

“But I think, when you see the videos of me when I was 21, sort of shuffling around – the kind of brightness of those videos and those songs, it’s kind of hard to believe I was raised the way I was.”

He went on: “My dad had some issues with, probably, mental health. I think if he’d been diagnosed today he’d have gone in for treatment, and that wouldn’t be an issue today. But going back a generation there was no way he was going to do that."

The singer went on to detail the erratic behaviour of his father, including his struggles with his temper and dramatic mood swings.

He explained: “One minute he would be really happy, singing Frank Sinatra and whistling how life was great, and the next he would be unbelievably dark.”