Chris Rea

Chris Rea, a British singer and guitarist, built a substantial European following in the late 1980s and early 1990s after nearly a decade of studio work. He began by performing with the regional band Magdalene, filling the spot vacated by David Coverdale. Under the name Beautiful Losers the group captured a national talent contest in 1975, although the victory produced no recording deal. Rea then exited the lineup and cut the album Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, whose title alluded to a stage identity he had abandoned. The record earned gold certification thanks to the U.S. Top 20 hit “Fool (If You Think It’s Over).” For several years afterward Rea stayed out of the American market, concentrating instead on his core audience across Europe. In 1988 he released New Light Through Old Windows, a compilation drawn from his 1980s albums, which performed strongly in the United Kingdom and Europe and also entered the U.S. charts. The set was followed by the critically acclaimed The Road to Hell, widely viewed as his strongest album to date. Both The Road to Hell and its successor Auberge reached the summit of the British album charts, yet neither matched that success in the United States, where Rea’s later releases failed to chart. His most ambitious undertaking appeared in 2005 as Blue Guitars, an eleven-album, 130-track box set of original material inspired by the blues and by his own paintings. The lighthearted The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes arrived in 2008.