{"id":129908,"date":"2025-12-23T13:31:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T18:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129908"},"modified":"2025-12-23T13:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T18:32:11","slug":"chris-rea-driving-home-for-christmas-singer-dies-at-74-entertainment-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129908","title":{"rendered":"Chris Rea, \u201cDriving Home For Christmas\u201d Singer, Dies At 74 \u2013 Entertainment News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129908\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129908\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-129909 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/download-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"174\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Karen Beishuizen<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The voice behind songs like \u201cRoad to Hell\u201d, \u201cAuberge\u201d and \u201cDriving Home For Christmas\u201d is silenced forever.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Rea died on 22 December in a hospital after a short illness. He was 74.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Anton Rea was born on 4 March 1951 in Middlesbrough.<\/p>\n<p>He started his career in 1978 with his debut album \u201cWhatever Happened to Benny Santini?\u201d and the lead single \u201cFool (If You Think It\u2019s Over) \u201c reached number 1 on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart and number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWater Sign\u201d was his fifth album. Released in 1983, the single \u201cI Can Hear Your Heartbeat\u201d was a huge hit all over Europe. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cShamrock Diaries\u201d was his seventh album. Released in 1985, the songs \u201cStainsby Girls&#8221; and a song he wrote for his daughter, \u201cJosephine\u201d, became big hits.<\/p>\n<p>The follow-up album \u201cOn The Beach\u201d and its title track were released in 1986 among critically acclaim.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s Dance&#8221; was released as the first single of his ninth album \u201cDancing With Strangers\u201d and peaked at No. 12 in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>His tenth studio album was his major breakthrough: \u201cThe Road to Hell\u201d (1989) enjoyed massive success and became his first No. 1 album in the UK. In 1991, \u201cAuberge\u201d repeated its predecessor&#8217;s success, reaching No. 1 in the UK albums chart, and was another hit across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>In 1993 the album \u201cEspresso Logic\u201d made the Top 10 and \u201cJulia\u201d, written about his second daughter, became another big hit.<\/p>\n<p>His biggest hit was \u201cDriving Home For Christmas\u201d which was written in 1978 when Chris was stranded and his wife had to pick him up. The song was released in 1988 and has made a reappearance on the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Rea is survived by his wife Joan and daughters Josephine and Julia.<\/p>\n<p>Ringside Report sends their condolences to The Rea Family in their time of grief.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-126533\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-126533\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"126533\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F129908\" data-token=\"aede23c7460ef8735c30bf64853702c0\" data-token-time=\"1777242691\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\">\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" >or Email Name<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><div class=\"wpforms-field-row wpforms-field-medium\"><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-first wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-first wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][first]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">First<\/label><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-last wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][last]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">Last<\/label><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\">Comment or Message<\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" ><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-126533-field_4-container { position: absolute !important; overflow: hidden !important; display: inline !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; z-index: -1000 !important; padding: 0 !important; } #wpforms-126533-field_4-container input { visibility: hidden; } #wpforms-conversational-form-page #wpforms-126533-field_4-container label { counter-increment: none; }' ) );\n\t\t\t\t\tdocument.head.appendChild( style );\n\t\t\t\t\tdocument.currentScript?.remove();\n\t\t\t\t} )();\n\t\t\t<\/script><\/div><!-- .wpforms-field-container --><div class=\"wpforms-recaptcha-container wpforms-is-recaptcha wpforms-is-recaptcha-type-v2\" ><div class=\"g-recaptcha\" data-sitekey=\"6LeyxF8eAAAAALCgKefmpigcK22wWdwPbUdyB_q8\"><\/div><input type=\"text\" name=\"g-recaptcha-hidden\" class=\"wpforms-recaptcha-hidden\" style=\"position:absolute!important;clip:rect(0,0,0,0)!important;height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border:0!important;overflow:hidden!important;padding:0!important;margin:0!important;\" data-rule-recaptcha=\"1\"><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-submit-container\" ><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"wpforms[id]\" value=\"126533\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page_title\" value=\"\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page_url\" value=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129908\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"url_referer\" value=\"\"><button type=\"submit\" name=\"wpforms[submit]\" id=\"wpforms-submit-126533\" class=\"wpforms-submit\" data-alt-text=\"Sending...\" data-submit-text=\"Submit\" aria-live=\"assertive\" value=\"wpforms-submit\">Submit<\/button><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wpforms-lite\/assets\/images\/submit-spin.svg\" class=\"wpforms-submit-spinner\" style=\"display: none;\" width=\"26\" height=\"26\" alt=\"Loading\"><\/div><\/form><\/div>  <!-- .wpforms-container -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Karen Beishuizen The voice behind songs like \u201cRoad to Hell\u201d, \u201cAuberge\u201d and \u201cDriving Home For Christmas\u201d is silenced forever. Chris Rea died on 22 December in a hospital after a short illness. He was 74. Christopher Anton Rea was born on 4 March 1951 in Middlesbrough. He started his career in 1978 with his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28132,17984],"tags":[33576,33575,33577],"class_list":["post-129908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns-by-karen-beishuizen","category-entertainment-news","tag-driving-home-for-christmas-singer","tag-chris-rea","tag-dies-at-74-entertainment-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129908"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}