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Chris Rea’s second most famous song almost wasn’t released. Rea told the story a few years ago after the song became a classic. In 1978, Rea thought Van Morrison could sing the song. He set the tone for the master singer. But “Driving Home For Christmas” never reached Morrison. It wasn’t until 1986 that Chris Rea released the piece on the B-side of “Hello Friend”. Then it was on the “New Light Through Old Windows” compilation. And finally on the “Christmas EP”.
Rea also recorded “On The Beach” again and shifted the central motif from the keyboard to the guitar, whereupon the song became one of the biggest and most exemplary hits of the 80s. “Driving Home For Christmas” was created when Rea’s wife picked him up from London in a small car to take him to the family celebration. The streets were crowded and there were traffic jams. And Rea started singing.
The song stayed put for eight years. He didn’t appear on Rea’s debut album “Whatever Happened To Benny Santini?”, so named because Rea’s record company wanted to rename him Benny Santini. They wanted to make him an “Elton Joel” – that is, to bring together the two most successful songwriters of the time. Rea, born in England, was the son of the Italian ice cream manufacturer Camillo Rea.
Chris worked in his father’s office until he began playing a Höfner guitar seriously at the age of 20. Later he refined the bottleneck technique known from Ry Cooder and only played blues.
On December 22nd, Chris Rea died as a result of a long-term battle with cancer.