JonRolling, VirginiaRolling: the other Astleys
With all this Rick Astley netmania, I thought I'd shine a light on two of the lesser-known Astleys of the 80s. Jon Astley released the single "Jane's Getting Serious" in 1987, from his album Everyone Loves the Pilot (Except the Crew), in a synth-laden musical style I like to think of as Gary Numan Lite:
He put out one more album, then settled back into record producing (as opposed to record production, which I think should just describe the manufacturing end of it). Jon's sister Virginia Astley performed in the ethereal genre now known as "dream pop." Her gorgeous 1986 album Hope in a Darkened Heart opens with a duet with the High Priest of Dream Pop himself, David Sylvian:
I hope that the next time you go to RickRoll someone, you will consider JonRolling or VirginiaRolling them instead.