Chris Rea, the British rock and blues star, widely known for the 1986 hit «Driving Home for Christmas,» has died at the age of 74 after a brief illness, Euronews reported.
His family — wife Joan and their daughters Josephine and Julia — have confirmed that Rea passed away peacefully in hospital after a short illness.
Born in Middlesbrough in 1951, Rea built a long and respected career marked by his distinctive gravelly voice and reflective songwriting. He achieved widespread success in the late 1970s with songs such as «Fool,» «Let’s Dance» and «The Road to Hell.» In the late 1980s, though, he released a hit — «Driving Home for Christmas» — that has since become one of the most recognizable and popular Yuletide songs worldwide.
All in all, during his career, Rea released over 25 studio albums, with «The Road to Hell» and «Auberge» both reaching the top of the U.K. Albums Chart.
