Photo: Andrzej Barabasz (Chepry) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Chris Rea's passing in December 2025 closed the book on one of my favorite kinds of musicians: the unglamorous craftsman. That gravel-and-honey voice and his slide guitar never begged for attention; they simply outlasted every trend that ignored them. Twenty-five studio albums from a Middlesbrough son who treated blues-rock like a trade to be practiced daily moves me more than any stadium spectacle. Every winter his voice returns to the airwaves and feels like a hand on the shoulder. I suspect history will be kinder to him than the charts sometimes were, because quiet excellence usually wins the long game.
Overview
Christopher Anton Rea ( REE-ə; 4 March 1951 – 22 December 2025) was an English rock and blues singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He was known for his distinctive gravelly voice, slide guitar playing and music style blending soft rock with blues. Rea recorded twenty-five studio albums beginning in the late 1970s.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Chris Rea
- Name (Japanese)
- クリス・レア
- Reading
- くりす・れあ
- Born
- March 4, 1951 (age 75)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Rabbit
- Origin
- Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer-songwriter / singer / recording artist / actor / musician
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Singer-songwriter — see all → · Singer — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.