British singer-songwriter and former Grammy nominee Chris Rea of Driving Home for Christmas breathed his last on Monday.
According to the BBC, the musician’s death was confirmed by a family spokesperson.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris. He passed away peacefully in hospital today after a short illness, surrounded by his family,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Rea was born in Middlesbrough in 1951 to an Italian father and an Irish mother. He was 74 years old and is survived by his wife and two children.
In the UK, Reo’s 1986 release Driving Home for Christmas became a Christmas favorite and was even used in a Marks and Spencer TV advert this year.
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Music career marred by illness
Rea debuted in 1974 with a single called So Much Love, but it wasn’t until June 1978 that his first studio album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, was released. Rea also earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist that year.
He released two more albums in 1979 and 1980, but despite warm reception, neither was a commercial success.
Rea’s music career then rebounded in the early 1980s, with his fifth studio album Water Sign charting in Europe and his follow-up Wired to the Moon (1984) reaching the Top 40 in the UK.
His next album, Shamrock Diaries (1985), sold over a million copies, while the subsequent releases of On The Beach (1986) and Dancing with Strangers (1987) brought Rea considerable fame in the UK.
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Although the Middlesbrough-born singer-songwriter never toured the US, his records also found millions of listeners in the United States, with the 1978 single Fool (If You Think It’s Over) reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Re’s rise continued into the 1980s, with his 1989 album The Road to Hell becoming his first UK No.1 album. Two years later, Auberge repeated this success and once again climbed to the top of the UK charts.
During his musical career, the singer-songwriter has sold more than 40 million records worldwide.
That said, Rea’s music career has been affected by many health issues, including pancreatic cancer. The singer-songwriter underwent the same surgery in 2000, but subsequently struggled with diabetes and a weakened immune system.
In 2016, Rea also suffered a stroke that left him with slurred speech and limited movement in his arms and fingers.
