Chris Rea

CHRIS REA. English rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from Middlesbrough who is known for his distinctive, husky singing and slide guitar playing. After learning to play the guitar relatively late, a short burst of local band activity led to his launching a solo career in 1978. He became one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. Two of his most successful studio albums ; The Road to Hell (1989) and Auberge (1991) both topped the UK Albums Chart. Other hit songs include ; "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat" / "Stainsby Girls" / "Josephine" / "On the Beach" / "Let's Dance" / "Driving Home for Christmas" / "Working on It" / "Tell Me There's a Heaven" / "Auberge" / "Looking for the Summer" / "Winter Song" / "Nothing to Fear" / "Julia" and "If You Were Me", a duet with Elton John. He has been nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist (1988 / 1989 and 1990). He has never toured the United States where he is best known for the 1978 single "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," which reached No12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. This success earned him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1978. As of 2009, he had sold more than 30 million records worldwide