Chris Rea, the artist behind ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, bequeathed £12 million in his will to his partner after his death last year, The Sun has reported.
The Middlesbrough-born musician died in December, aged 74, following an illness.
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Previous to that he had endured a number of health problems, including once collapsing on stage in Oxford.
Known for his gravelly voice and latterly for his slide guitar playing, he was nominated for a slew of top awards, including Brit Awards, at the height of his success and sold millions of records.
Chris Rea (Image: PA)
After battling health troubles in 2016 when he suffered a stroke, the singer recovered to launch a new album, Road Songs For Lovers, the following year.
But during a live show at Oxford’s New Theatre on George Street back in 2017, he collapsed.
I wasn’t frightened of dying,” he once said in an interview.
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“It did look like the end, but what got me through was the thought of leaving a record that my two teenage daughters could say, ‘That’s what Papa did – not the pop stuff, but the blues music. That’s what he was about’.”
Now, court records seen by The Sun, show that Mr Rea left £14,435,894 to his wife Joan, reduced to £12,063,178 after taxes, debts and costs.
The grant was issued by the High Court earlier this week, with the will having been signed only a few months before the singer died.