Chris Rea obituary: A life on the road

Chris Rea: The car enthusiast whose love of driving inspired his songs Rock and blues singer Chris Rea spent countless hours on the road, and his love of cars and driving was the inspiration behind many of his songs. Chris Rea: "Most of the songs are different people's love stories inside cars" He recorded 25 solo albums, two of which topped the UK albums chart. His distinctive gravelly voice and slide guitar-playing are preserved in songs such as Road to Hell, Auberge, On the Beach and Driving Home for Christmas. Christopher Anton Rea was born in Middlesbrough in the north-east of England in 1951 to an Italian father and Irish mother and was one of seven children. The family was known locally for Camillo's Ice cream factory and cafes, owned by his father Camillo Rea. Chris worked in the cafes as a teenager and took his driving test in one of his dad's ice cream vans. When he was asked to do an emergency stop, the examiner fell off the box he was sitting on and cut his leg. Rea said: "I had to take him to the hospital but he still passed me." He was still working for his father when he bought his first guitar, a 1961 Hofner V3 in his early 20s. Rea said that at the time he was "meant to be developing my father's ice cream cafe into a global concern, but I spent all my time in the stockroom playing slide guitar". He played with local groups The Elastic Band, and Magdalene, but it was The Beautiful Losers which shone the spotlight on Rea, and he secured a solo recording deal with Magnet Records. His first studio album was Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, released in 1978. The lead single, Fool (If You Think It's Over), was a big hit in the US, reaching number one on the (adult) contemporary singles Billboard chart, earning him a best new artist nomination at the Grammy Awards. Michael Levey, co-founder of Magnet records, remembers him as "more of a thoughtful, introspective poet than a natural pop performer". One of Rea's childhood dreams had been to write and compose music for films. He achieved both with his movie La Passione in 1996. Rea also wrote the score and title track for the Soft Top Hard Shoulder film and starred in the comedy Parting Shots in 1999. Rea was building a reputation for his slide guitar playing when his record company insisted on releasing Driving Home for Christmas in 1986. He said: "I didn't need a Christmas song hanging around at that point. I did everything I could to get them not to release that record. Thankfully they did!" The song's inspiration dates back to a difficult year for him personally. In 1978 Rea had come to the end of his record contract and had parted ways with his manager. The record company wouldn't pay for a train ticket for him to get from London to his home to...

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