British singer Chris Rea has died. 5 Facts about the author of The Road to hell

The author of the hit The Road To Hell, musician, performer and actor Chris Rea died in hospital at the age of 75. He has been fighting cancer for the last 30 years, but continued to write music and perform on stage, and even visited Russia in 2006, 2008 and 2017. What Chris Rea remembered is in the Izvestia article.

Fact 1. Could have continued the family business

Christopher Anton Rea was one of seven children born to Italian Camillo Rea and Irish Winifred Slee. My father owned an ice cream factory in Yorkshire and a chain of Camillo's cafes. As a teenager, Chris worked part-time at his father's cafe and considered becoming a journalist, while his father expected him to continue the family business. But as soon as Chris got his first guitar, it became clear that he was no longer interested in the family business.

• He spent all his time in the warehouse playing the slide technique, where his finger does not leave the strings, but slides over them. Chris played with several local bands, including Magdalene with David Coverdale, later the lead singer of Deep Purple. Chris Rea's performance with The Beautiful Losers earned him a contract with Magnet Records for his first solo album. The musician advertised the debut single So Much Love due to the popularity of family ice cream — Chris was photographed with a bicycle of the network with the inscription: "Stop me and buy one."

Home for Christmas: what is remembered by British singer Chris Rea

During his life, the artist recorded 25 studio albums.

Fact 2. An avid car enthusiast

To get his license, Chris took driving lessons in one of his father's vans, which were special ice cream vans. According to the musician himself, at some point, on the instructions of the instructor who took the exam, he had to brake urgently: as a result, the man fell from the ice cream crate on which he was sitting and injured his leg. Chris had to take the instructor to the hospital, but despite this incident, he passed the exam.

Traveling behind the wheel became an inspiration for him — he composed some of the famous songs when he was on the road. For example, the musician wrote the popular Christmas song Driving Home for Christmas when he got stuck in traffic on his way home from the recording studio. Another famous song, The Road To Hell, was written in a traffic jam at the intersection of London's M4 and M25 motorways.

Fact 3. Car collector

• The musician collected cars and participated in races himself. His collection included replicas of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race winning car, the Ferrari 250 TRI61, and the legendary 1960s Formula 1 car, the Ferrari 156F1.

"We got scared and became laureates — that's how it all started"

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Chris not only participated in racing himself, but also once serviced the racing car of Formula 1 pilot Eddie Irvine. Thanks to his friendship with Eddie Jordan, the owner of the Jordan Formula 1 team, he was allowed into the pit lane, where racing cars are serviced, and entrusted with the responsibility of heating the rear right wheel of Irvine's racing car.

Fact 4. He worked in different styles

In his music, Chris Rea mixed several genres at once — he combined the sounds of blues, soul, rock and pop music. He did not immediately succeed in his homeland in the UK, but in the USA the musician was noticed immediately. His song Fool (If You Think It's Over) entered the charts in 1978 and earned him a Grammy Award nomination.

The end of the 1980s became the most successful for the musician — by that time he had achieved popularity in the UK. And later he realized his childhood dream — he became the author of the music for the 1996 film Passion and starred in the 1999 comedy Parting Shots.

Fact 5. One love for a lifetime

Chris started dating his wife, Joan Leslie, at the age of 17. The couple had two daughters: Josephine was born in 1983, and Julia Christina was born in 1989. Chris Rea's most popular songs, Josephine and Julia, are named after his daughters.