RIP: Chris Rea left us a few days before coming home for Christmas

He was born on the 4th of March 1951 in Yorkshire, England, and has never had any ambitions other than to pamper his impressive guitar collection. Chris Rea left us today at the age of 74…

For the family of four girls and three boys, summer jobs were a given. His father's job was to help sell his ice cream, which was very famous. Maus Chris worshipped the Stratocaster rather than the strachiatella (even with the crunchiest chocolate)!

Between 1979 and 1980, despite incongruous titles such as ‘Whatever Happened To Benny Santini?’, Chris Rea was trying to find his feet and was also under pressure from a label, Magnet Records, which was thrilled by his first American success, notably the single ‘Tennis’. However, it's fair to say that, in the artist's own eyes, his career only really got off the ground with his eponymous 1982 album.

Chris Rea then began to refine a repertoire of ballads hemmed with languid electric notes. In fact, he always opted for delicacy, leaving his more nervous colleagues to push their amps to the limit or even smash their instruments. Chris Rea is still a gentleman...

The guitarist (and singer and songwriter, let's not forget) has always preferred the cheapest of his six-strings: a blue Italia Maranello. He's also not very keen about talking about himself or dissecting his songs. "My music says it all," he told me many times during interviews that never last too long.

The author of some 25 studio albums, we imagine (wrongly, no doubt) that he composed the melodies of ‘Loving You’ (1982), ‘Winning’ (1984), ‘Josephine’ (1985), ‘On The Beach’ and ‘Giverny’ (1986) in a hammock. When the snow begins to fall on ‘Joys Of Christmas’ or ‘Coming Home For Christmas’, when the fires of hell send shivers of fear (‘Road To Hell’), Chris Rea nevertheless retains his nonchalance and phlegm.

With his hair turning salt-and-pepper and gradually opting for a quiet blues style, Chris Rea could have envisaged a gentle end to his career, ageing like a fine wine. But it was not to be. First struck down by pancreatic cancer in 2002, he found an outlet for his pain and fate's blows in blues. Unfortunately, the guitarist's health continued to deteriorate. Despite a heart attack in 2016, he signed ‘One Fine Day’ with a certain optimism, a fragile and touching album on which his songs speak about him better than long speeches: ‘Do You Still Dream?’ or ‘Sweet And Tender Touch’...
His family announced that he quietly left this world today after a short illness » and won’t come home for Christmas this year…

(Stéphane Soupart - Tr.: MH - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Chris Rea on stage at the Manhattan in Leuven (Belgium) in May 1985