Singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his enduring hit Driving Home for Christmas
Identifiable by his growling vocal style and fondness for playing bluesy slide guitar, Chris Rea, who has died aged 74, proved that it was possible to become a big-selling international artist while remaining low-key and publicity-shy. “I’m not a hero role model, like Tina Turner or Dire Straits,” he protested in 1991. “I’m a writer of songs.”
He enjoyed his biggest solo hit right at the start of his career, when Fool (If You Think It’s Over), from his debut solo album Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? reached No 12 on the US pop charts in 1978, but it was not until the late 1980s and 90s that he created a solid platform for himself with a string of albums that enjoyed high chart placings in Britain and Europe. Yet despite being steeped in American music, he never enjoyed major success in the US.
He was initially attracted by the idea of writing film music, but realised the scope for this in his native Middlesbrough was limited. He was a late starter on guitar, which he did not begin playing until he was 21, and, as he put it, “I just went sideways into slide guitar.” He had been inspired by hearing such slide wizards as Ry Cooder and Little Feat’s Lowell George, as well as the blues players Charlie Patton and Blind Willie Johnson.
