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CChris Rea was the unmistakable voice behind one of the world’s most popular Christmas songs, but he wrote it at a time when he was hardly in a holiday mood.
His record contract was almost up, and his manager had just informed him that he was leaving. Rea was keen to travel home from London’s Abbey Road Studios to Middlesbrough, but he was banned from driving, and his label refused to pay for a train ticket.
So, his wife picked him up in her damaged Austin Mini and they drove to Middlesbrough. It started snowing, as did the traffic, prompting Riya to look towards other drivers who looked equally unhappy. jokingly He is now singing the famous lineShe started writing lyrics in a notepad on her lap.
Originally released in 1986 as the B-side of their single “Hello Friend”, a re-recorded version of “Driving Home for Christmas” (1988) has appeared in the UK Singles Chart almost every year for the past two decades, reaching a new peak of number 10 in 2021. Both versions are included on Rea’s new record, christmas albumWhich is available now, including limited-edition vinyl.
Its cheerful, jaunty melody and melancholy theme of traveling home for the Christmas holidays impressed their fans and has since become one of the UK’s best-loved festive songs.
“It has the hope and warmth that all classic Christmas songs have,” Rea said. Independent, Just days before his death at the age of 74“That and the frustration of being stuck in motorway traffic – that’s what people feel,
“The funny thing is, right before we wrote it I was banned from driving, and we originally thought we’d give it to Van Morrison. It was a fifties jazz thing, like he used to do. Then the record label offered it as my B-side, and a DJ started playing it. And here we are today.”
First released in 1986, “Driving Home for Christmas” is featured in this year’s M&S Food Christmas advert, which sees comedian and actor Don French singing along to the single in his car. This track is also included in the Christmas-themed album Re, released in October this year, which includes the songs “Footsteps in the Snow” and “Joys of Christmas”.
Before his death, Ri told Independent He was rekindling his love of blues and jazz, and recording “some instrumentals”. He was also looking forward to Christmas, and felt proud to have made his own film, PassionWhich was released 29 years ago.
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“If I ever get stuck on the M25 – the Road to Hell – I’ll roll down the window and start singing ‘I’m Driving Home for Christmas’ to the people in the cars,” he said. Guardian In the last interview. “They love it. It’s like giving them a gift.”
He continued: “I had never played it live at the Hammersmith Odeon for a year: the gig was on 21 December, so the road crew kept bugging me to do it. I said, ‘If I’m going to sing this rubbish song, we’ll do it properly.’ So we rented 12 snow cannons. When we started the song, you couldn’t hear it because of the crowd noise and we left the machines on. We put 3 feet of artificial snow in the stalls. The venue charged me £12,000 to clean it up.
News of Rhee’s death was shared by his family on Monday, who said he died in hospital after a short illness.
A statement on behalf of his wife and two children said, “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris. He passed away peacefully in hospital today with his family by his side after a short illness.”
Rea’s success was somewhat sporadic, starting with her debut album, Whatever happened to Benny Santini?A reference to the stage name his record label wanted him to adopt, which was released in 1978. The album track “Fool (If You Think It’s Over)” was nominated for a Grammy.
It wasn’t until their eighth album, ButbeachThat they achieved major success in the UK and Europe thanks to the title track, which became a hit single. He followed it in 1989 the road to hellwhich made him one of the UK’s biggest solo stars and a favorite among (mostly male) rock fans.
“This is a big weakness of mine,” he said. Independent INA Clear 2004 Interview. “I over-collaborate with people. People say that because I’m an Irish-Italian from Middlesbrough, and my dad was always like, you know – ‘Get the job done.’ So when some record-company guy would say, ‘We need to sweeten it for the Swedish version,’ I’d say, ‘Okay. You can do this. The Swedish version would then become the UK version. A million strange things happened.”
the road to hell It was also their first No. 1 album, followed by the 1991 album AubergeWhich also topped the charts in the UK. But it was not until the age of 33, while he was in the hospital being treated for pancreatic cancer, that he experienced what he calls a “musical epiphany”, when a friend brought him a Miles Davis album. kind of Blue,
His career came to a halt when he was diagnosed with cancer and had to have part of his pancreas, duodenum, gall bladder and liver removed. Speaking about his illness in an interview, he said that he was not afraid of dying and that his passion for the blues as well as his health battles had inspired him to make a triumphant return to music.
He recalled, “I probably wouldn’t have played it, but I was just like, nothing: incompetent.” “And I put it on and paid attention. Then I started really liking it, then I found a book on modulation… I became quite obsessed with that record. I could even hear them moving towards the microphone to play.”
That music stayed with him after his recovery; He rejected the idea of a “duet” album, which his record label was harassing him about, and returned to his musical roots, releasing a blues-influenced record. dancing on the rocky road,
“If the heads of all music companies knew about the music and Chris Rea’s fans, they wouldn’t worry rocky road,” he said. “My regular fans have always known that side of me… I knew they would have no problem with it. so i made rocky road still. All the record companies rejected it. I was very happy when it finally turned gold.”
He is survived by his wife Joan and two children.