name	Sun Is Up
cover	Sun is Up.jpg
artist	Inna
album	I Am the Club Rocker/Hot
released	June 29, 2010
format	Digital download
recorded	2010; Play & Win Studios(Constanța, Romania)
genre	House, dance-pop
length	3:45 (Play & Win Radio Edit)3:12 (Video Version) 2:32 (UK Radio Edit)
label	Roton
writer	Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea, Marcel Botezan
producer	Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea, Marcel Botezan
last single	"10 Minutes"(2010)
this single	"Sun Is Up"(2010)
next single	"Club Rocker"(2011)
misc	}}

"Sun Is Up" is a song by Romanian recording artist Inna from her second studio album, ''I Am the Club Rocker''. In the United Kingdom, the song will serve as Inna's fifth single to be taken from her debut album, ''Hot''. The song was written and produced by Play & Win and was officially sent to Romanian radio stations on June 29, 2010. It became a smash hit in her home country as it reached number two on the Romanian Top 100, surpassing the chart achievements of her debut single "Hot". It reached number one in Bulgaria and on the Swiss Romandie Chart, number two in France and number three in Switzerland and Russia and the top ten in Belgium (Wallonia) and the Netherlands. An adjacent music video was filmed in Spain, directed by Alex Herron. The song was performed live during the INNA en Concert tour.

Background

On June 28, 2010, Inna's official website announced that two new songs entitled "Sun Is Up" and "Un Momento" (with Juan Magan), both written and produced by Play & Win, were supposed to be released together as a "Hit Summer Pack". But while "Sun Is Up" premiered on Kiss FM on June 29, 2010, "Un Momento" was released later on and appeared on YouTube on September 2, 2010. On September 5, Inna's website confimed "Un Momento" to be a bonus track on the Spanish version of her debut album ''Hot'', which was released on September 28, 2010. "Sun Is Up" was also named the best dance track of the year, thus winning the 2010 Eurodanceweb Award.

Critical reception

"Sun Is Up" received mixed reviews from Romanian and French critics. Paul Lester of ''The Guardian'' said in its review that "Sun Is Up recommends that you "put your hands in the sky" and reminds us of "Boys Boys Boys" by Sabrina.".

Chart performance

"Sun Is Up" became a radio hit in Romania and quickly charted on the airplay-based Romanian Top 100. Only after the release of the music video the song entered the top ten of the chart on October 31, 2010, climbing up to number ten. It peaked at number two on November 28, 2010, only being blocked from ascending to the top spot by Smiley's "Love Is For Free". "Sun Is Up" spent a total of eight weeks in the top ten, becoming Inna's fifth top ten single and her highest charting song after "Amazing", which peaked at number one.

It has charted in Slovakia, where it has peaked at number twenty on the official Slovakian Airplay Chart. It became her second highest peaking single on the chart, only being behind "Love", which reached number five. "Sun Is Up" also peaked at number three on the Russian TopHit 100 Airplay Chart, beating-up the record set by "Amazing" for the highest position on the chart. In Hungary it charted at number six on the Hungarian Dance Chart.

After "Amazing" the song became Inna's second number-one on the Bulgarian Airplay Chart. It reached the top position on November 21, 2010, lost it to Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)" on the following week but returned to number one on December 5, 2010 for one additional week. It has spent a total of twenty-three weeks inside the top forty. The song was also a hit in Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Ukraine.

In France, "Sun Is Up" reached number three on the iTunes chart after just 48 hours, only being behind "Hold It Against Me" by Britney Spears and "Over The Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, and peaked at number two a few days later, beating Spears. On the official French Digital Singles Chart it debuted at number four on January 19, 2011. It was the second highest debut of that week in the chart, after Spears' "Hold It Against Me", which opened at number three. Due to its high digital sales "Sun Is Up" was one of the songs to chart on the new official French Singles Chart which combines physical and digital sales. On February 4, 2011, it debuted at number five. After its physical release "Sun Is Up" climbed up the chart, reaching its peak position at number two on March 6, 2011.

It had also debuted at number three in Switzerland on February 27, 2011, becoming her highest charting single on the Swiss Singles Chart. It has also peaked at number-one in the Music Chart from the Swiss region Romandie. There, Inna scored her first number-one and also her first top ten. In Belgium, "Sun is Up" became Inna's best chart effort with a week inside the top five of the Wallonian Ultratop and it was also a top-twenty in the Flannish Chart. In the Netherlands, "Sun Is Up" was also a top ten success on the Single Top 100 (number seven) and the Dutch Top 40 (number nine).

In the United Kingdom, "Sun Is Up" was digitally released on May 8, 2011. The song reached British radio stations and music channels seven weeks prior to its release. On April 15, "Sun Is Up" was added to the B-Playlist on the UK's biggest radio station, BBC Radio 1. On the week of it's release, "Sun Is Up" charted at number seventeen from digital downloads only. The next week it climbed to number fifteen, becoming Inna's third most successful song released in the United Kingdom. Due to the success of "Sun Is Up", her album ''Hot'' was released both digitally and physically on June 5, 2011 and June 6, 2011 respectively.

In Germany, "Sun Is Up" became Inna's highest-charting single on the German Singles Chart, debuting and peaking so far at number twenty-six on May 16, 2011. Only in August 2011 the song reached the top twenty of the German iTunes Chart.

On May 20, "Sun Is Up" became Inna's third charting single and her highest-charting on the Irish Singles Chart, peaking at number thirty-eight.

Music video

The music video for "Sun Is Up" was shot on August 24, 2010 in Marbella, Spain. It was directed by Alex Herron, who previously worked with Taio Cruz and Kesha ("Dirty Picture") and Basshunter ("Saturday"). A teaser of the video was released on September 27, 2010 that showed Inna on a bed being privately photographed by the photographer of a photo shooting. The official music video finally premiered on September 30, 2010 on Inna's web site. The video's length is 3:18 and it was filmed in HD.

The video begins with Inna walking cross a river in the middle of a forest, dressed-up in green. She then appears before a photo shooting with Tore Frisholm Jr, with all her preparation helping her to get ready. The next scene is with Inna in a jacuzzi bath in a mountaine area, singing bare-naked. Then, Inna is dancing and singing at a party. When the sun sets Inna is at her home, posing around on her bed and being privately photographed by Frisholm. In the last moments, the video turns back to the party scene. In the end, Inna and Frisholm make out in the sunset. The video was viewed over one million times on YouTube in just one week. As of March 13, 2010, the song has gained over 30,000,000 views worldwide and over 4,000 comments only on its official channel. The music video debuted at number-three in the Romanian TV Airplay Chart, gaining a maximum number of 180 views per week. It had been broadcasted by all the Romanian music TV channels, hitting the top ten of the UTV airplay charts. Releasing the video helped the song to become an airplay hit.

Live performance

Inna performed "Sun Is Up" for the first time at the Romanian Music Awards 2010, in Craiova, in a medley with "Señorita", "10 Minutes" and "Amazing". She has also performed it in several tour dates in Spain, Ukraine, Slovakia or Bulgaria. On December 29, 2010 she performed "Sun Is Up" live at Kasho Club in Braşov, along with her hit singles "Hot", "Love", "Amazing" and "10 Minutes". Her first abroad performance of the song was at Fun Radio, France. There, she premiered a song that was intended to be her newest single, "Got Me Goin'". Inna performed "Sun Is Up" during the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 NRJ Music Awards. Then, she performed it during her INNA en Concert tour trough France and other European countries. On May 17, "Sun Is Up" was performed both as Opening song and Encore song for her INNA: Live la Arenele romane gig in Bucharest, Romania. The opening act is called "Intro/Sun Is Up" and Inna made her appearance on the stage by levering from a helicopter.

Track listings

UK iTunes remix EP

#"Sun Is Up" (UK Radio Edit) – 2:32 #"Sun Is Up" (Play & Win Mix) – 4:43 #"Sun Is Up" (Cahill Radio Edit) – 3:25 #"Sun Is Up" (Cahill Mix) – 7:17 #"Sun Is Up" (Kryder Mix) – 5:30 #"Sun Is Up" (Mico Mix) – 6:05 #"Sun Is Up" (Odd Mix) – 6:03

Dutch iTunes remix EP

#"Sun Is Up" (Cahill Radio Edit) – 3:25 #"Sun Is Up" (Cahill Mix) – 7:17 #"Sun Is Up" (Cahill Instrumental Mix) – 7:11 #"Sun Is Up" (Kryder Mix) – 5:30

Charts

Weekly charts

{|class="wikitable sortable" |- !Chart (2010/2011) !Peakposition |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |align="left"|Germany (German Airplay Chart) |align="center"|89 |- |- |- |- |- |Romania (Romanian Top 100) |align="center"|2 |- |Russia (Russian TopHit 100) |align="center"|2 |- |- | |- |- |- |- |Switzerland (Romandie Chart) |align="center"|1 |- |- |}

Certifications

! Country	List of music recording certifications>Certification
	Gold

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable sortable" |- !Chart (2010) !Position |- |Romanian Top 100 |align="center"|52 |}

Chart precession and succession

|-

Release history

{|class="wikitable" !Region !Date !Format !Label |- |Romania |rowspan="1"|June 29, 2010 |Airplay |rowspan="1"|Roton Records |- |France |rowspan="1"|January 10, 2011 |rowspan="6"|Digital download |rowspan="2"|Universal Music |- |Spain |rowspan="3"|February 8, 2011 |- |United States |rowspan="2"|Ultra Records |- |Canada |- |Germany |rowspan="1"|May 1, 2011 |rowspan="1"|Universal Music |- |United Kingdom and Ireland |rowspan="1"|May 8, 2011 |rowspan="1"|All Around the World |- |Australia |rowspan="1"|May 21, 2011 |rowspan="6"|Digital download |rowspan="1"|Central Station |}

References

Category:2010 singles Category:Inna songs

cs:Sun is Up es:Sun is Up fr:Sun Is Up it:Sun Is Up nl:Sun Is Up (Inna) pl:Sun Is Up uk:Sun Is Up

name	Rick Astley
background	solo_singer
birth name	Richard Paul Astley
born	February 06, 1966Newton-le-Willows, (then Lancashire, now Merseyside), England
instrument	Vocals, guitar, drums, keyboards
genre	Pop, dance-pop, blue-eyed soul
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1985–19932000–present
label	RCA, Polydor, Cruz
associated acts	FBIStock Aitken Waterman
website	rickastley.co.uk
notable instruments	}}

Richard Paul "Rick" Astley (; born 6 February 1966) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. He is known for his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was a #1 hit single in 25 countries. Astley holds the record for being the only male solo artist to have his first 8 singles reach the Top 10 in the UK and by retirement in 1993 had sold approximately 40 million records worldwide.

After retiring from the music industry in 1993, Astley made a comeback in 2007 when he became an Internet phenomenon, as his video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" became part of a popular Internet meme known as "Rickrolling". Astley was voted "Best Act Ever" by Internet users at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008.

Early life

Richard Paul Astley was born on 6 February 1966 in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England, becoming the fourth child of his family. His parents divorced when he was five, and Astley was brought up by his father. His musical career started when he was ten, singing in the local church choir. During his schooldays, Astley formed and played the drums in a number of local bands, where he met guitarist David Morris. After leaving school at sixteen, Astley was employed during the day as a driver in his father's market-gardening business and played drums on the Northern club circuit at night in bands such as “Give Way” - specialising in covering Beatles and Shadows songs - and “FBI”, which won several local talent competitions.

Signing to Stock Aitken Waterman

In 1985, Astley was performing as a drummer with a soul band named FBI, with Morris on guitar. They were a well known local band writing and performing their own music, gigging in pubs and clubs. When FBI's lead singer left the band, and Morris left to concentrate on his career in hairdressing, Astley offered to be the lead vocalist. This was when he was noticed by the record producer Pete Waterman, who persuaded him to come to London to work at the PWL recording studio, with RCA Records publishing his records. Under the tutelage of the production team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, known as Stock Aitken Waterman, Astley was taught about the recording process and groomed for his future career, supposedly starting off as the recording studio 'tea boy'. The reason for Astley to be hired initially as a 'tape op', was to overcome his shyness. SAW also hired most of FBI, including Morris as a guitarist/songwriter.

Success

His first single was the little-known "When You Gonna", released as a collaboration with Lisa Carter, with little promotion. It did not chart. His first solo offering was "Never Gonna Give You Up", recorded on New Year's Day 1987, and released eight months later, in August. Astley's distinctive rich, deep voice combined with dance pop, made the song an immediate success, spending five weeks at the top of the British charts and becoming the year's highest-selling single. The song was also a worldwide number one hit, topping the charts in 24 other countries, including the U.S., Australia, and Germany. It would become the first of 13 (worldwide) top 30 hit singles for him. "Never Gonna Give You Up" won Best British single at the 1988 BPI awards (now called the ''BRIT Awards''), and he performed the hit in front of a global audience of 100 million.

His next single was "Whenever You Need Somebody", which was released in October. The single was a recycled Stock, Aitken, Waterman song, originally recorded by O'Chi Brown in 1985. It became a successful European hit, reaching #1 in seven countries, including Germany and Sweden, following up the success of his debut single. It also reached #3 in the UK. It was not released in North America.

In November 1987, the album ''Whenever You Need Somebody'', containing four Astley written tracks, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, and #10 in the U.S. It was certified 4x Platinum in the UK and Canada, and 2x Platinum in the US. Overall ''Whenever You Need Somebody'' sold 15.2 million copies worldwide, making him the top selling British act of the year.

In the run up to Christmas 1987, Astley released a cover version of the Nat King Cole classic "When I Fall in Love". This single is mainly remembered for a closely fought contest for UK Christmas Number 1. Rivals EMI hoping to see their act, the Pet Shop Boys, reach #1, re-released the version by Nat King Cole. This led to a slow down of purchases of Astley's version, allowing the Pet Shop Boys to reach the coveted top spot. Despite selling over 200,000 copies and gaining a Silver certification from the BPI, it peaked in the UK at #2 for two weeks. The re-release of Nat King Cole's version reached #4. The B side was a dance number "My Arms Keep Missing You", which was successful in Mainland Europe.

Astley's fourth single release would be "Together Forever" in 1988, reaching #2 in the UK. It was denied the top spot by ''Neighbours'' sensation Kylie Minogue's debut "I Should Be So Lucky". "Together Forever" was more successful state-side, topping the U.S charts, making it his second U.S chart topper, which meant Astley was one of the few British acts to crack the American market. In 1989 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, but lost to Tracy Chapman.

His fifth and final release from his debut album was "It Would Take a Strong Strong Man". It was a more soulful song, when compared to his other releases, and was mainly intended for the North American market. Thus, it was not released in Britain. It was another hit for Astley, reaching #10 on the U.S ''Billboard Hot 100'', and #1 in Canada. During the period between his debut release and his fifth single, Astley outsold every other artist in the world. In the UK, he was in the Top 40 every week for the first 6 months of his career.

A fire in the PWL studios destroyed much of Astley's new material, causing a delay in the release of his second album. ''Hold Me In Your Arms'' was eventually released in January 1989, containing five singles, and reached #8 in the UK and #19 in the US, being certified Platinum in the UK and Gold in the US.

Astley's relationship with British media, deteriorated significantly after the release of ''Whenever You Need Somebody'', with the media calling him a 'puppet' of Stock Aitken Waterman. This was despite Astley writing five of his new album's tracks. The negative press inevitably affected the sales of his singles. The first single from the album to be released was "She Wants To Dance With Me", a number penned by Astley himself. It was another successful single reaching #6 in both the UK and US charts. "Take Me to Your Heart" was the next single to be released from the album. It reached #8 in the UK and was not released in the US. The Astley written ballad "Hold Me in Your Arms" reached #10 in the UK and was also not released in North America. The next two singles released from the album were intended for the North American market. "Giving Up On Love" and a cover of The Temptations song "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" charted #38 and #89 in the US respectively.

In December 1989, Astley set off on his first world tour, touring 15 countries including the UK, US, Australia, and Japan. By the end of the tour, Astley was tiring of the negative press, and wanted to explore alternate paths as a musician. Thus, he left his producers Stock Aitken Waterman, with RCA records buying out his contract with PWL.

Switching to soul and AC

By 1990, Astley had parted company with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman. He also decided to leave his dance-pop days behind him, moving towards his passion, soul. This shift in musical genre lead him to change his image too, ditching the boy next door look, presenting himself as a mature and passionate musician. His third album, ''Free'', was released in 1991 containing collaborations with Elton John. The album contained three singles, and reached #9 in the UK and #31 in the US.

He achieved one more major success with the 1991 ballad "Cry for Help", which reached #7 in both the UK and the US. This would place Astley in The Guinness Book of Records, as he became the first male solo to have his first eight singles to all chart in the UK Top 10. This record still stands to this day. The other two singles from ''Free'' were not as successful. "Move Right Out" reached #58 in the UK and #81 in the US; and "Never Knew Love" reached #70 in the UK and did not chart in the US. ''Free'' would mark the end of Astley's successful period, and "Cry For Help" would be the last Astley single to make the Top 10 in either the UK or US (as of May 2010).

His next album, ''Body and Soul'', was released in 1993, and was largely an Adult Contemporary album. By the time the album was released, Astley decided to retire from the music industry. As a result, the album did not get a lot of promotion, not charting in the UK but managing to make the Billboard 200, peaking at #182. The two singles, "The Ones You Love" and "Hopelessly", performed very well on the US adult contemporary chart, peaking at #19 and #4 respectively. "The Ones You Love" peaked at #48 in the UK but did not chart in the US. "Hopelessly" also crossed over and peaked at #28 on the US Billboard 100, staying in the US top 40 for five weeks, and #33 in the UK. It was named as one of the most performed songs at the 1994 BMI Awards, and is one of the few songs to achieve BMI 'Million-Air' status.

Retirement

After 1993, Astley decided to retire from the music industry at the young age of 27 deciding that family life was more important. During Astley's time out of the music business, he raised his daughter Emilie, born in 1992. Thus, for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Astley remained largely out of the spotlight. One notable musical appearance by Astley during retirement was as a backing singer on The Lion King soundtrack in 1994.

Return to singing

Almost 10 years after ''Body and Soul'', Astley finally returned to the music world signing a co-publishing deal with Polydor and released ''Keep It Turned On'' in 2002. The album featured the single "Sleeping", which became a minor club hit, thanks to a set of remixes from U.S. house producer Todd Terry. ''Keep It Turned On'' was only released in Continental Europe.

Astley's first compilation album, ''Greatest Hits'', was released in 2002, and reached 16 on the UK Albums Chart. With no promotion from Astley, it sold over 100,000 copies and was certified Gold by the BPI. After retirement in 1993, Astley continued to song write for various acts and in 2003 he managed to chart at #10 in the UK as a songwriter with "Shakespeare's (Way With) Words" performed by short lived boyband One True Voice.

In 2004, Astley toured for the first time in 14 years, which lead him to a record contract with Sony BMG. In March 2005, Astley released the album ''Portrait'' in which he covered many classic standards such as "Vincent", "Nature Boy" and "Close to You". Both Astley and Sony BMG were unhappy with the end result so the album was poorly promoted, yet managed to reach 26 on the UK Albums Chart.

In April 2008, the album "The Ultimate Collection: Rick Astley" was released by Sony BMG and by early May it had reached #17 on the UK Top 40 Albums Chart, again with no promotion from Astley.

In September 2008, Rick was nominated for the 'Best Act Ever' award at the MTV Europe Music Awards The push to make Astley the winner of the award continued after the announcement, as well as efforts to encourage MTV to personally invite Astley to the awards ceremony. On 7 November, following a massive internet campaign by fans, Rick won the award in Liverpool, but was not there in person to receive it. Perez Hilton collected the prize on his behalf. On the back of this, "Never Gonna Give You Up" returned to the UK charts, over 21 years after it was released, peaking at #73 during the Christmas period.

During the late 2000s, Astley continued touring across the globe, touring with various other 80s acts, such as Boy George and Belinda Carlisle in the ''Here and Now Tour''. In April 2009, he wrote an article for ''Time'' about moot.

Astley today

Astley was a special guest throughout Peter Kay's new tour, ''The Tour That Doesn't Tour Tour...Now On Tour'', from 27 April to 22 May 2010. To mark the occasion, Rick Astley released a new single "Lights Out" on his own label. It was released on 7 June 2010. This was Astley's first release in the UK Singles Chart in 17 years. It was well received by radio peaking #15 on the UK Airplay Charts, but failed to become a commercial hit, reaching only #97 on the UK Singles Chart.

During the summer 2010, Astley became a radio DJ for London's Magic FM, presenting a Sunday show. Initially the contract was 8 weeks but he proved popular with listeners and his contract was extended till the end of the year. In December 2010, Astley co-hosted with Peter Kay the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, and in March 2011 appeared in Comic Relief's Red Nose Day telethon on the BBC.

Personal life

Rick Astley is married to Lene Bausager, and the couple have one daughter, Emilie, who was born in 1992. Astley met Lene when she was working as a promoter with RCA in 1988. Lene is a film producer, and was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for the Sean Ellis film ''Cashback'', where she was the main producer. The family lives in the London suburb of Richmond.

Discography

Canada Top data: for singles and albums from The Record magazine. US Top data: for singles from The Billboard Hot 100, for albums from The Billboard 200; UK Top data for singles and albums is from UK Singles Chart. Based on various music charts in the UK, US and Canada, Astley has charted a grand total of 14 different hit singles and 6 different hit albums, as of April 2010.

Studio albums

''Whenever You Need Somebody'' (1987)

''Hold Me in Your Arms'' (1989)

''Free'' (1991)

''Body & Soul'' (1993)

''Keep It Turned On'' (2001)

''Portrait'' (2005)

Rickroll internet phenomenon

In 2007, Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme known as Rickrolling. This is where internet users are tricked into watching Rick Astley's video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by following a link that claims to be something else. Views of this video on various websites are now in their millions. The phenomenon became so popular that on 1 April 2008, YouTube pranked its users by making every single featured video on its front page a Rickroll.

On November 27, 2008, Astley himself participated in a live Rickroll during the ''Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade'' while the ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' characters were singing "Best Friend", the theme from the 1970s TV series ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father''. Midway through the song, Astley emerged from the float and began to lip sync his signature hit. At the end of Astley's performance, Cheese (a character from ''Foster's'') shouted out "I like Rickrolling!".

Despite the video garnering millions of hits on YouTube, Astley has earned almost no money from the meme, receiving only US$12 in royalties from YouTube for his performance share.

See also

List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)

List of number-one albums (UK)

List of number-one singles (UK)

List of number-one hits (United States)

List of songs by British artists which reached number-one on the Hot 100 (USA)

The Rickrollerz

References

External links

Official Rick Astley website

Official Rick Astley MySpace

Official Rick Astley YouTube channel (1987-93) (country restricted)

Official Rick Astley YouTube channel (2010-)

Category:1966 births Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:Living people Category:People from Newton-le-Willows Category:Polydor Records artists Category:RCA Records artists

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