In 1987, Rick Astley covered the song, as SAW rushed to gather strong follow up material in the wake of the unexpected global mega-success of "Never Gonna Give You Up".

[3] The song would become the title track and second single from Astley's multi-million selling debut album Whenever You Need Somebody, also written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman.

[4] Richard James and Jenny Jay of Number One praised "Whenever You Need Somebody" as being "a very good song", stating that "it's very commercial and [Astley's] voice is just brillant", and considered SAW "a right set of genuises".

[5] Jerry Smith of British magazine Music Week described the song an "uninspired, high energy dance track", but predicted its success on the charts.

[7] Discussing Astley's success with the track she'd originated, Brown complimented the singer on his voice and praised the chart performance of his cover, but noted, "I like mine better, what can I tell you?

[8] It topped the charts in seven European countries, including the Walloon region of Belgium, Finland,[9] Italy,[10] Sweden,[11] Switzerland,[12] and West Germany.