4 Mar 1951 - 22 Dec 2025 (74 years)

This was a hard one to take as Chris Rea's hit 'Driving home for Christmas' was my staple song when travelling back to Scotland. I'm from Scotland but have lived in the South East of England for nearly 40 years, so this tune was played all the time on our long drives back to Scotland for Christmas!

Christopher Anton Rea was an English rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea recorded 25 studio albums, two of which topped the UK Albums Chart, The Road to Hell in 1989 and its successor, Auberge, in 1991. He had already become "a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10" with the single "The Road to Hell (Part 2)".

Over the course of his long career, Rea's work had at times been informed by his struggles with serious health issues. His many hit songs include "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat", "Stainsby Girls", "Josephine", "On the Beach", "Let's Dance", "Driving Home for Christmas", "Working on It", "Tell Me There's a Heaven", "Auberge", and "Julia". He also recorded a duet with Elton John, "If You Were Me". He was nominated for the Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Rea never toured the United States, where he was best known for the 1978 single "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, earning him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1978. A decade later, "Working On It" topped the Mainstream Rock chart. He sold more than 40 million records worldwide.