Graham Clark, Music Correspondent
Remembering Chris Rea
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Rea composed the song several years prior to its release. After being dropped by his record company and losing his driving licence, Chris Rea's partner Joan had to pick him up from London one December to drive back home to Middlesbrough; this journey back to the northeast inspired him to compose the song.
His original record company wanted him to change his name to Benny Santini, though the fierce-minded northerner would have none of it. His first album, released in 1978, was titled Whatever Happened to Benny Santini in reference to his suggested stage name. His first big hit, Fool (If You Think It’s Over), was the lead track off the album, with the song later being covered by Elkie Brooks.
His huge success came later with the albums Dancing with Strangers, The Road to Hell and Auberge, with Rea becoming popular in the rest of Europe and America. His tours in this country always visited the north.
Many of his songs were about driving cars; he owned and raced vintage Ferraris and the like – he even volunteered to be a pit-lane mechanic at the Monaco Grand Prix in the mid-nineties.
Born Christopher Anton Rea in 1951 in Middlesbrough, his father was Italian, and his mother was Irish. His dad owned an ice cream business and a chain of coffee shops, but the call of music was always there; moving to London, he formed the Beautiful Losers.
His health was always a concern – he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he was fifty, with the cancer returning once in his liver and twice in his kidneys. A stroke in 2016 left him with slurred speech. He recovered well enough to go back on tour; however, the 2017 tour was cancelled after he collapsed on stage.
His last studio album – his 25th, One Fine Day – was released in 2019.
He leaves behind his wife, Joan, and two daughters, Josephine and Julia.