Driving Home for Christmas’ Chris Rea has died at the age of 74 after a short illness, his family said in a statement.
In a statement on behalf of his wife and two children, they said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Chris.
The statement said he died “peacefully in hospital … after a short illness”.
Rea blended blues, pop, soul and soft rock across 25 studio albums, with hits such as The Road to Hell, from the self-titled album which reached number 1 in the UK charts, Driving Home for Christmas, an all-time Christmas favourite, and tracks such as On the Beach and Josephine.
He was born in 1951 in Middlesbrough to an Italian father and an Irish mother and had six siblings. “As an Irish-Italian in a coffee bar in Middlesbrough, I started life as an outsider,” he later said.
