The music world mourns Chris Rea

Legendary rock and blues singer Chris Rea has died. The British singer passed away today in Middlesbrough, England, at the age of 74 after a short, serious illness.
Rea is not only known for his Christmas anthem ‘Driving Home For Christmas’. Rea's greatest hits also included classics such as ‘On The Beach’ and ‘Fool (If You Think It's Over)’. Although there was never a duet with Rod Stewart over the decades, Rod fans will know that the song ‘Windy Town’, recorded by Sir Rod for his 1995 album ‘A Spanner In The Works’, was penned by Chris Rea. Rea first released the song in 1987, and although it was very popular among fans, ‘Windy Town’ did not become the hit that had been hoped for.

Rod Stewart's version remained purely an ‘album track’, but the album ‘A Spanner In The Works’ was a success, reaching number nine in Germany (which not every Stewart album achieved) and number four in the UK charts. In the USA, however, ‘Spanner’ ended up rather further down the list at number 35.