Kathrine Frich
For decades, his songs followed roads, seasons and quiet moments.
Now, one of Britain’s most distinctive voices has fallen silent.
A singular sound
Chris Rea, the British singer-songwriter best known for “Driving Home for Christmas,” has died at the age of 74, a family spokesperson said, according to The Guardian.
Over a career spanning more than four decades, Rea released 25 studio albums and sold more than 30 million records worldwide.
His music mixed blues, pop and soul, producing enduring hits such as “The Road to Hell,” “On the Beach,” “Josephine,” and the seasonal favourite that returns to radio playlists every winter.
Rea was born in 1951 in Middlesbrough to an Italian father and an Irish mother, one of seven children.
“Being an Italian Irishman in a Middlesbrough café, I started life as an outsider,” he later said.
Early struggles
Before music took over, Rea worked a range of jobs, including at his father’s ice cream factory, and briefly considered journalism.
He joined the band Magdalene at 22, a group that had earlier featured David Coverdale, later of Deep Purple.
After stints with other bands, Rea launched a solo career in the mid-1970s. His breakthrough came first in the United States, where his 1978 single “Fool (If You Think It’s Over)” reached No. 12 and earned him a Grammy nomination.
Success proved uneven. Rea later described the industry as “a big, seething pile of garbage. I had no control over it, I didn’t know what to do.”
Commercial peak
His fortunes shifted in Europe in the mid-1980s. The album Water Sign found a wide audience, and Dancing With Strangers in 1987 began a run of six UK top-10 albums, two of which reached No. 1.
Though often outside mainstream pop trends, Rea became firmly established at home. In the 2000s, he moved away from chart-focused pop and returned to the Delta blues influences that first shaped his sound.
Beyond music
Cars and roads were recurring themes in his work, reflecting a genuine passion for motorsport.
Rea raced Ferraris and Lotuses, competed in the 1993 British Touring Car Championship, and joined the Jordan Formula One team as a pit mechanic in 1995.
“I didn’t want to do VIP stuff, so I took care of Eddie Irvine’s right rear wheel,” he said.
He also supported the Labour Party and wrote an unpublished song praising Jeremy Corbyn in 2017.
Health battles
Rea faced serious health problems for much of his life. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he underwent major surgery in 2001 that left him diabetic.
A stroke in 2016, followed by a collapse on stage in 2017, forced periods of recovery but did not end his creative work.
He leaves behind a catalogue defined by restraint, atmosphere and the enduring image of a long road home.
