Christmas singer icon Chris Rea gave his beloved wife Joan an incredible gift when he was first diagnosed with cancer. The Driving Home for Christmas star sadly died in hospital on Monday (December 22) surrounded by his family.
During the singer’s final TV appearance on the Christmas special of the BBC’s Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing, he explained: “I was in hospital and the pancreatic cancer nurse comes in and tells me ‘it’s not grade three cancer phone your wife!’ So I phone my wife and she pulled the car over and burst into tears.”
The Middlesbrough-born singer added: “I gave her all the money, all the rights to all the songs.” He went on, laughing: “And now she won’t give them back.”
The rights to Driving Home For Christmas will bring in a huge amount of money. The festive favourite track, which was written and composed by Rea, was released in 1986 and has become a very popular song over the holidays, appearing in the UK Singles Chart every year for nearly two decades, the Mirror reports.
Rea’s annual royalties for the song are thought to come to around £200,000, with about £7million banked from it since its release. In 2021, it hit No10 on the singles chart and it is often named among the UK’s most favoured Christmas songs.
Cover versions have been recorded by many stars including Stacey Solomon and Engelbert Humperdinck. Joan is believed to even had a hand in creating Driving Home For Christmas. In fact, he was being driven back up north by his childhood sweetheart after a recording session in December 1978 when his inspiration for the song came.
Chris was claiming benefits at the time and was also on a driving ban. Joan and Chris had just £220 left between them at the time and they decided to drive for six hours to get back to Middlesbrough which meant they got home at 3am.
When they opened the door, a letter was on the doormat from a US performing rights organisation explaining that his song Fool (If You Think It’s Over) had charted in the US and he had been sent a lump sum cheque for £15,000.
Rea’s family announced his death on Monday, saying: “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.”
Tributes have poured in from across the music world and his fanbase.
The mayor of his hometown Chris Cooke said: “This is really sad news and my thoughts go out to Chris’ loved ones.
“Chris Rea was deeply proud of his Middlesbrough roots and the people of our town were equally proud to call him one of their own.
“Millions of people around the world will listen to his music tonight.
“His songs helped put Middlesbrough on the map and he leaves behind a brilliant legacy.”