Christopher Anton Rea (/ˈriːə/ REE-ə; born 4 March 1951) is a British rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, recognisable for his distinctive, husky-gravel voice and slide guitar playing. The book Guinness Rockopedia described him as a "gravel-voiced guitar stalwart". The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10 with his 18th chart entry; "The Road to Hell (Part 2)". Two of his studio albums, The Road to Hell and Auberge, topped the UK Albums Chart. Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist...
Christopher Anton Rea (/ˈriːə/ REE-ə; born 4 March 1951) is a British rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, recognisable for his distinctive, husky-gravel voice and slide guitar playing. The book Guinness Rockopedia described him as a "gravel-voiced guitar stalwart". The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10 with his 18th chart entry; "The Road to Hell (Part 2)". Two of his studio albums, The Road to Hell and Auberge, topped the UK Albums Chart. Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988, 1989 and 1990. As of 2009, he has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
In America he is best known for the 1978 hit song "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" that reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. This success earned him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1979. His other hit songs include, "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat", "Stainsby Girls", "Josephine", "On the Beach" (Adult Contemporary No. 9), "Let's Dance", "Driving Home for Christmas", "Working on It" (Mainstream Rock No. 1), "Tell Me There's a Heaven", "Auberge", "Looking for the Summer", "Winter Song", "Nothing To Fear", "Julia", and "If You Were Me", a duet with Elton John.
In September 2017, Chris Rea released his twenty-fourth album, Road Songs for Lovers, and embarked on a new European tour starting in October until December.