Eighties singer Rick Astley is the first artist to announce dates for next year's Forest Live concerts at Bedgebury Pinetum.

The pop icon and multi-million selling artist will play the Goudhurst site on Friday, June 16.

Rick has recently had his first No.1 album in 29 years, with 50, which has singles including Keep Singing and Angels On My Side. He has also had almost 1.8m views on VEVO and more than 600,000 streams on Spotify.

He was just 21 when his single Never Gonna Give You Up debuted in 1987. It became the UK’s biggest selling single of the year and was No.1 in 16 countries. His debut album Whenever You Need Somebody sold 15m copies worldwide and his first eight singles reached the UK Top 10, including Take Me To Your Heart and Hold Me In Your Arms.

Forest Live fans can see Rick perform a set of songs from his latest album and some of his greatest hits.

The Forest Live summer concert series has brought some big names to Bedgebury. Last year, Kaiser Chiefs and Sir Tom Jones headlined, and previous years have included Paloma Faith and Tom Odell.

Rick said: “2017 sees me celebrating 30 years in the music business since my first No.1 hit. 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.”

He will be joined by support acts.

Tickets, priced £36.50 (plus a £4.15 booking fee) go on sale at 9am Friday, October 21. For details call 03000 680400, or go to forestry.gov.uk