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Chris Rea

Chris Anton Rea

Background information
Birth name Christopher Anton Rea
Born March 4, 1951 (1951-03-04) (age 56)
Origin England
Genre(s) Blues, Rock
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar
Years active 1978-present
Label(s) JazzeeBlue
Associated
acts		 The Memphis Fireflies

Christopher Anton Rea (born 4 March 1951) is a singer-songwriter, from Middlesbrough, England. Chris has sold 30 million albums worldwide.

Contents

  • 1 Biography
    • 1.1 Early career
    • 1.2 European breakthrough
    • 1.3 After Auberge
    • 1.4 Fighting pancreatitis and back to the blues
    • 1.5 Blue Guitars
    • 1.6 Family life
  • 2 Film
  • 3 Local references in Chris Rea's lyrics
  • 4 Discography
    • 4.1 Albums
    • 4.2 Compilations
    • 4.3 Live album
  • 5 Singles
  • 6 DVDs
  • 7 References
  • 8 See also
  • 9 External links

Biography

Early career

Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? was Rea's debut album, released in 1978 (see 1978 in music). The first single lifted from the album, "Fool (if You Think It's Over)", is his biggest hit in the United States, peaking at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching number one on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart. "Fool (if You Think It's Over)" was nominated for a "Song of the Year" Grammy, losing out to Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are". Unlike most of Rea's other singles, "Fool..." was not a great success on the UK Singles Chart, failing to chart on its first release and only reaching number thirty when re-released in late 1978 to capitalise on its U.S. success.

The title of the album is a reference to a name Rea's UK record label (Magnet) had considered christening him with to make him sound more attractive commercially.

Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? was produced by Gus Dudgeon. Rea was reportedly dissatisfied with the final mix of the album; he later went some way to rectify this to his satisfaction, starting with 1988s greatest hits compilation New Light Through Old Windows, which featured a re-recorded version of "Fool....". Dudgeon went on to produce Rea's next effort, Deltics.

European breakthrough

Rea began to focus his attention on continental Europe, releasing eight albums in the 1980s. It wasn't until 1985's 'Shamrock Diaries' and the songs 'Stainsby Girls' and 'Josephine', that UK audiences began to take notice of him. Follow up albums 'On The Beach' and 'Dancing With Strangers' became big UK hits before the New Light Through Old Windows compilation album in 1988 brought Rea success.

His next full album was to be his major breakthrough. 'The Road to Hell' [1989] enjoyed massive success and became his first number one album in the UK. These successes could not be mirrored in the U.S., however, where it only reached #107. The follow-up album, Auberge, also enjoyed massive European success, reaching the top spot in the UK.

After Auberge

After Auberge, Rea released God's Great Banana Skin, which managed to reach Number 4 in the UK. The album returned Rea to the rockier sound of Road to Hell, and the single "Nothing to Fear" gave him another Top 20 hit. A year later "Espresso Logic" hit the Top 10 and "Julia", written about his second daughter, gave him his 11th Top 40. A period of ill health meant his next album did not appear until 1998.

Despite no singles being released and little promotion, The Blue Cafe still made the UK Top 10, though it proved to be Rea's last. In 1999, 10 years after Road to Hell, Rea released Road to Hell Part 2. Many felt Rea had begun to lose his way; the album received no promotion and never made the Top 40. However it didn't get Rea down and in 2000 he released King of the Beach, receiving critical praise and a healthy Top 30 placing.

In 2000 a remix of Rea's 1986 "On the Beach" single by York was released and enjoyed moderate success on the dance floor.

Fighting pancreatitis and back to the blues

Following a severe bout of pancreatitis, and a predicted 50% chance of survival after an operation called a Whipple procedure, Rea promised himself that if he recovered, he would be returning to his blues roots. In an interview with the Britsound Radio Show, Rea revealed that "it’s not until you become seriously ill and you nearly die and you’re at home for 6 months, that you suddenly stop to realize that this isn’t the way I intended it to be in the beginning. Everything that you’ve done falls away and start wondering why you went through all that rock business stuff." So, in 2002, Rea returned to his blues roots, releasing the album Dancing Down The Stony Road following recording sessions in France and the UK. (An abridged version of the album was later released with the title Stony Road.) The album was followed by a DVD of the same name, comprising a "Making Of" documentary and footage from a concert in Cologne. Rea set up his own JazzeeBlue label in 2003 to free himself from the pressure of record companies and their expectations. Since then he has released the blues albums Blue Street (Five Guitars) (an instrumental jazz-blues album) and the recently released The Blue Jukebox (another jazz-blues influenced album released to critical acclaim). He has recently worked with David Knopfler for two albums, Wishbones (2001) and Ship of Dreams (2004).

Blue Guitars

Chris Rea released his final box-set album, "Blue Guitars" in 2005. Consisting of 11 CDs and 1 DVD (Dancing Down The Stony Road), the album is Rea's testament to blues. Each album contains self-compositions, played and performed in a specific genre of the blues. The box-set includes a book containing reproductions of colourful paintings by Rea. In an interview with the Britsound Radio Show, Rea declared that this box-set album is a result of his love for the blues; "it’s just my first love. You know if you take music as romance, then blues was my first love you know, it’s my wife. And it’s with me all the time, and I just adore it." This album closes the final chapter of Chris Rea's solo career as he does not intend to make any further solo records. He has stated that he will continue to make records with some of his favourite players under the name "The Memphis Fireflies".

Family life

Rea is the son of Camillo Rea, an immigrant from Italy and Winifred, of Irish descent (died Sept 1983). He has two brothers, Nick and Mike, and four sisters, Catherine, Geraldine, Paula and Camille. He is married to wife Joan, with whom he has two daughters (Josephine, born September 16th 1983, and Julia Christina, born March 18th 1989). He now lives in Cookham, Buckinghamshire.

The name "Rea" (pronounced "Ree-ah") was well-known locally thanks to the chain of "Rea's Ice-cream" shops owned by Camillo Rea. In later years the chain folded except for one shop operated by Camillo himself. He played his son's music constantly inside the shop.

Film

Rea has also dabbled seriously in film, playing lead in the 1999 comedy "Parting Shots" opposite such notables as John Cleese, Bob Hoskins and Joanna Lumley. Somewhat ironically, Rea plays a man who is told that cancer gives him six weeks to live, and decides to kill off the people who've done him wrong in life.

Local references in Chris Rea's lyrics

Chris' lyrics contain references to growing up in Middlesbrough, a town which, at the time, had much heavy industry around it, including chemical processing, steelmaking, and shipbuilding. Perhaps the most famous of these references occur in the song "Stainsby Girls", a tribute to his wife Joan, who attended Stainsby Secondary Modern School, now known as Acklam Grange Secondary School.

Other references easily recognized by Middlesbrough natives occur in "The Road to Hell".

I'm standing by a river, but the water doesn't flow
It boils with every poison you can think of.

This lyric refers to the appearance of the River Tees in the 1960s, when it was at its most polluted. The song "Steel River" compares the old polluted Tees with the later clean river, there being salmon, but no industry. "Windy Town" is a memory of Middlesbrough from the viewpoint of a touring musician. References in this and other songs to "amber light", "yellow light", relate to the widespread use of cheap "sodium light" streetlamps which cast a baleful yellow glow in which all colors are either yellow or black.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Live album

Singles

DVDs

References

  1. http://www.chrisrea.com/home.html
  2. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0713730/

See also

External links