Chris Rea

Christopher Anton Rea (/ˈriːə/ REE-ə; born 4 March 1951) is a British rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from Middlesbrough. Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty-five 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 has 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". Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Rea has never toured the United States, where he is 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 has sold more than 40 million records worldwide.

Christopher Rea was born on 4 March 1951 in Middlesbrough in the North Riding of Yorkshire to an Italian father, Camillo Rea (died December 2010) originating from Arpino in the Province of Frosinone, and an Irish mother, Winifred K. Slee (died September 1983), as one of seven children. His family were of the Roman Catholic faith. The name Rea was well known locally thanks to his father's ice cream factory and café chain. When he was twelve, he worked clearing tables in the coffee bar and making ice cream in the factory. He wanted to improve the business, but his ideas got no support from his father. After leaving, he was replaced by one of his brothers. At that time he wanted to be a journalist and attended St Mary's College, Middlesbrough.

Rea bought his first guitar in his early twenties, a 1961 Höfner V3 and 25-watt Laney amplifier He played primarily "bottleneck" guitar, also known as slide guitar. Rea's playing style was inspired by Charlie Patton whom he had heard on the radio. He had initially thought Patton's playing sounded like a violin. Rea was also influenced by Blind Willie Johnson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as well as by the playing of Ry Cooder and Joe Walsh. He was also listening to Delta blues musicians like Sonny Boy Williamson II and Muddy Waters, gospel blues, and opera to light orchestral classics to develop his style. He recalls that "for many people from working-class backgrounds, rock wasn't a chosen thing, it was the only thing, the only avenue of creativity available for them", and that "when I was young I wanted most of all to be a writer of films and film music. But Middlesbrough in 1968 wasn't the place to be if you wanted to do movie scores". Due to his late introduction to music and guitar playing, Rea commented that when compared to Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton, "I definitely missed the boat, I think". He was self-taught, and soon tried to join a friend's group, The Elastic Band, as the first choice for guitar or bass. Heeding his father's advice he did not join as his potential earnings would not be enough to cover the costs of being in the group. As a result, he found himself working casual labouring jobs, including working in his father's ice cream business. Rea commented that, at that 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".

In 1973 he joined the local Middlesbrough band, Magdalene, which earlier had included David Coverdale who had left to join Deep Purple. He began writing songs for the band and took up singing only because the singer in the band failed to show up for a playing engagement. Rea then went on to form the band The Beautiful Losers which received Melody Maker's Best Newcomers award in 1973. He secured a solo recording deal with independent Magnet Records, and released his first single entitled "So Much Love" in 1974. The band itself split up in 1977. He guested on Catherine Howe's EP The Truth of the Matter. He recorded his first album that same year, but according to Michael Levy (co-founder of Magnet) the recordings were burned and started over again because it did not capture his whole talent.

Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, Rea's debut studio album, was released in June 1978, produced by Gus Dudgeon. The title referred to a stage name that Rea had suggested when the record label insisted that his given name did not sound "croony" enough. It peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 200, and charted for 12 weeks. The lead single, "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", was Rea's biggest hit in the US, reaching No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, and No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. As Rea gave Magnet Records its first major breakthrough and its first US Top-10, he was their biggest artist, the more so when he was nominated at the 21st Annual Grammy Awards as Best New Artist. Levy remembers him as "more of a thoughtful, introspective poet than a natural pop performer" which Levy felt stopped Rea from becoming a bigger star. Few of Rea's early singles charted in the UK. "Fool" performed modestly on its second release in late 1978, prompted by its strong performance in the US, and that stateside success also led to Rea being categorized as a piano-playing singer-songwriter, similar to Elton John and Billy Joel, rather than the guitar player he is. For several years, Magnet marketed him based on this misconception. Rea says that it "is still the only song I've ever not played guitar on, but it just so happened to be my first single". Rea has "always had a difficult relationship with fame, even before my first illness. None of my heroes were rock stars. I arrived in Hollywood for the Grammy Awards once and thought I was going to bump into people who mattered, like Ry Cooder or Randy Newman. But I was surrounded by pop stars". Throughout his career Rea has emphatically rejected the label of "rock star".

Dudgeon also produced Rea's second album Deltics (1979). Rea recorded his self-produced third album, Tennis (1980), with musicians from Middlesbrough, and it received positive reviews. As both albums had failed commercially, Magnet rejected the artwork Rea wanted for the cover of his fourth album, 1981's Chris Rea (produced by Jon Kelly, who later oversaw Rea's most successful albums). None of these albums reached the Top 50 in the UK, with his singles also delivering lacklustre performances. Diamonds reached No. 44 in the US, and Loving You went to No. 88 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rea had a difficult working relationship with Dudgeon and the other "men in suits" who he felt "smoothed out" the blues-influenced elements of his music. Rea "always thought that [producers] knew best. I never thought for a minute that they might have another agenda", but "all of a sudden I was the goose that laid the golden egg, and it was hell for me". He ruefully acknowledges, "I can't blame anyone but myself. I gave them what they wanted rather than what I wanted".

From 1983, Rea's music began to better reflect his wishes and capabilities, despite pressure from his record company due to the accumulated costs of the production for his first four albums. To keep costs low, the label decided to release the demo tapes of his fifth studio album Water Sign. It was the first of several successful albums on which Rea collaborated with producer David Richards. He also changed managers and went on a UK club tour, followed by a 60-date tour as a support act for Canadian band Saga. Water Sign performed far better than Rea or his team expected in Ireland and Europe, selling over half a million copies in just a few months. The single I Can Hear Your Heartbeat charted in Europe. With the album's success along with that of the subsequent Wired to the Moon (1984), which was his first Top 40 album in the UK (reaching No. 35), Rea began to focus his attention on touring continental Europe and building up a fan base. He established a loyal following in West Germany, and believes this audience saved his career as there was no "image-led market", but only "by music and by word of mouth". It was not until 1985's million-selling Shamrock Diaries, with its hit singles Stainsby Girls and Josephine, written for his wife and daughter respectively, that UK audiences began to take notice of him.

His international fame grew with the million-selling studio albums On The Beach (1986), and Dancing with Strangers (1987) which reached No. 2 on the UK albums chart, behind Michael Jackson's Bad, and which included his first Top 20 UK single, "Let's Dance", which reached No. 12. In 1986, Rea was a support act along with The Bangles and The Fountainhead for Queen at Slane Concert for an estimated 80,000 audience. He also performed at Milano Suono festival at stadium San Siro, Italy. By 1987, Rea was finally in a position to pay off the £320,000 debt he owed to the record company, and started to make significant earnings. He signed with Warners, who also bought Magnet Recordings. That year, the Dancing with Strangers world tour sold out stadium-sized venues, including two shows at Wembley Arena, and included Rea's first concerts in Australia and Japan. Rea's American label, Tamla Motown, had told him that he should go to America and tour there for three years. Out of deference to his family, he did not do so. He commented that at the time he realized that "I could be as big as I liked, if I was prepared to do the touring".

Rea's next album was his first compilation - albeit an unconventional one, as most songs were new versions of older releases. New Light Through Old Windows (1988) was another million seller, climbing to No. 5 in the UK. The album included re-workings of some of his charting singles, as well as a reworking of his recent single "Driving Home for Christmas". Some of the tracks were successful in the US, including Working On It, which reached No. 73 on Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Mainstream Rock chart. The re-recorded version of On the Beach reached the Top 10 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 12 in the UK. The album's release and success was followed by an international tour with over 45 dates.