Driving Home for Christmas singer Chris Rea dies aged 74

Chris Rea, the musician behind the festive classic Driving Home for Christmas, has died at the age of 74.

The singer died on Monday in hospital following a short illness, a spokesperson for his family said.

A statement on behalf of his wife and two children read: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris.

“He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.”

The blues-influenced star had a string of hits included Auberge, On the Beach, Fool (If You Think It’s Over), Let’s Dance and Road to Hell.

Paying tribute on X, Middlesborough FC said: “We’re deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Chris Rea. A Teesside icon. Rest in peace, Chris.”

Rea’s 1980s smash Driving Home for Christmas tells the story of a weary traveller making his way home in heavy traffic.

This year, it has been brought to new audiences as the backdrop to the M&S Food Christmas advert.

In 2020, the singer’s social media platforms posted a chat between the Rea and fellow Middlesbrough native Bob Mortimer, explaining how he came to write the track.

Rea said he was on the dole at the time, his manager had just left him and he had been banned from driving.

His then-girlfriend Joan (who he met when they were both 16 and went on to marry) had to pick him up in London in her mini and drive him home.

That’s what inspired the song, which was written in 1978, 10 years before it was released as a single in 1998.

Asked about what he thinks of when he hears the song, the singer joked about how it bought him “that lovely little holiday in the Maldives”.

Rea was good friends with Mortimer and in 1997 they recorded Let’s Dance for Middlesbrough Football Club’s FA Cup Final.

But alongside the singer-songwriter’s success, he had suffered with various bouts of ill-health over the years.

He had his pancreas removed a few years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of just 33 in 1994, which meant he developed type 1 diabetes. He later had a stroke in 2016.

The star never forgot his roots, telling Saga magazine last year: “I’ve always had a difficult relationship with fame, even before my first illness.

“None of my heroes were rock stars. I arrived in Hollywood for the Grammy Awards once and thought I was going to bump in to people who mattered, like Ry Cooder or Randy Newman. But I was surrounded by pop stars.”

He added: “The celeb thing has gone totally wrong in the sense that everyone has tried to top each other. They don’t put the work in.”

Speaking of his wife in the same interview, he said: “Our golden moment is each morning when there is an elbow fight over whose turn it is to make the coffee.

“Then there are the large mugs of fresh coffee, BBC Breakfast news or Sky and we gaze out of the window over the countryside for an hour and we are still 16. We are lucky to still have that feeling.”

Rea was born in 1951 in Middlesbrough to an Italian father and Irish mother, and had six siblings. He began his working life helping out with his family’s ice-cream business.

“To be Irish Italian in a coffee bar in Middlesbrough – I started my life as an outsider,” he later said.

Once he found the guitar, he soon began playing in various bands and released his debut album Whatever Happened To Benny Santini? in 1978.

His commercial breakthrough came in the 1980s, as two of his studio albums – The Road To Hell (1989) and Auberge (1991) – went to number one in the UK.

He returned to his blues roots in his later years while facing his health challenges.

After his stroke nine years ago, he recovered to launch a new album, Road Songs For Lovers, in 2017.

He took the album on the road at the end of that year but had to cancel a number of shows after he collapsed mid-song while performing at the New Theatre in Oxford.

Rea released a new album in October 2025, titled The Christmas Album, featuring a remaster of Driving Home For Christmas as well as other festive tracks.

Paying tribute to Rea following his death, journalist Tony Parsons described him as a “top man” and “hugely underrated songwriter”.

TV personality Lizzie Cundy, who appeared in the music video for a 2009 version of Driving Home For Christmas, said that she was “so sad” to hear the musician had died.

“I loved every minute and was an honour to work with him and be in his iconic music video,” she said. “He will always be an inspiration and legend to me.”

Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, said he was “very saddened” to hear the news of Rea’s death.

In a post on X, he said: “Chris, a most cherished son of Middlesbrough, will live on through his wonderful music. My sincere condolences to his family.”

Rea and his wife Joan shared two daughters, Josephine and Julia. He credited his family with helping him to cope after his ill health.

“It’s music and family with me. I’m only one of four, that’s how I am,” Rea once said. “I’m 25% of a unit. It’s always been that way and we like it that way. In between that there’s music.”