<\/p>\n
\nChris Rea performs on stage at the opening of his tour “Road Songs for Lovers” in Erfurt, Germany, in 2017.
\nPhoto: Arifoto UG \/ dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP\n<\/p>\n
British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, best known for the 1980s festive hit “Driving Home for Christmas”, has died at the age of 74, his family announced on Monday (local time).<\/p>\n
“It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris,” a spokesperson for his wife and two children said in a statement shared with UK media.<\/p>\n
“He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.”<\/p>\n
A post on his official social media channels added: “Chris’s music has created the soundtrack to many lives, and his legacy will live on through the songs he leaves behind.”<\/p>\n
No further details were immediately provided.<\/p>\n
The musician, born in 1951 in Middlesbrough, northeast England, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had his pancreas removed in 2001, and in 2016 he suffered a stroke.<\/p>\n
He first found fame in Britain in the late 1970s with “Fool (If You Think It’s Over)”, following up in the 1980s with “Let’s Dance” and “The Road to Hell”.<\/p>\n
Known for his gravelly voice and slide guitar-playing, he recorded 25 solo albums — two of which topped the UK albums chart — while he also earned a Grammy nomination early in his career.<\/p>\n
His 1986 track “Driving Home for Christmas” became synonymous with the festive season, often reappearing in the British singles chart in December.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks it had reached number 30 and also featured in the Christmas advert for supermarket chain Marks & Spencer.<\/p>\n
The song “tells the story of a weary traveller making his way home, a moment of warmth, humour and holiday spirit that’s never lost its magic”, according to Rea’s website.<\/p>\n
In interviews, he has revealed he wrote the song during a difficult period eight years earlier when his manager had left him, he had been banned from driving and his wife was behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
“I’d look across at the other drivers, who all looked so miserable,” he previously said.<\/p>\n
“Jokingly, I started singing ‘We’re driving home for Christmas…’ then, whenever the street lights shone inside the car, I started writing down the lyrics.”<\/p>\n
His hometown football club, Middlesbrough FC, posted on X that it was “deeply saddened” by news of his death, calling him “a Teesside icon”.<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Rea performs on stage at the opening of his tour “Road Songs for Lovers” in Erfurt, Germany,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-196819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}