Chris Rea

Famous English singer, songwriter and extremely talented musician Chris Rea (full name Christopher Anton Rea) was born in 1951 in Middlesbrough. Chris bought his first guitar at the age of twenty two, inspired by Ry Cooder and Joe Walsh’s music. In 1973 Rea became a member of the band called Magdalene, and later he formed his own group Beautiful Losers. Chris started the solo career when he got the contract with one of the record labels. Thus, in 1974 the very first Rea’s single So Much Love was issued.

The singer’s debut long play Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? was released in 1978, and its first single Fool (If You Think It's Over) became the real hit in the USA. That song was even nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Song Of The Year, which proved the highest level of the musician’s debut work. Rea’s second record titled Deltics appeared in 1979 and it was as interesting as Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?. Thereby it managed to attract numerous music lovers’ attention to the singer’s creativity. The album Water Sign issued in 1983 was very well accepted by the listeners. Nevertheless, just a few knew that this long play was actually a demo-record, created by Chris. The thing is that the record company was not really interested in Rea’s album’s release, but Water Sign turned out to be popular, and listeners even enjoyed its new sound, which was simply the unfinished demo. Soon after Water Sign was released, Chris went on tour in Europe, gaining the growing fan base.

Rea kept on improving his skills, and he issued one of his best albums The Road To Hell in 1989. It got excellent reviews from the critics and its bright signature sound and wonderful atmosphere were enjoyed by the fans. The success of The Road To Hell was proved by The Sixfold Platinum status in Great Britain. Chris’ following work titled Auberge (1991) was as good as its predecessor and it peaked at number one of the UK Chart. One of the biggest Rea’s projects consisting of eleven CDs Blue Guitars saw the light in 2005. And a year later the musician pleased all the lovers of live sound by releasing an incredibly atmospheric live album The Road To Hell And Back (2006). In 2009 Chris’ discography was enlarged by another amazing compilation album Still So Far To Go - The Best Of Chris Rea, including the time-tested compositions that deserved the right to be called classical ones: Fool (If You Think It's Over), Loving You, Joys Of Christmas and many others.