Christopher Anton Rea (4 March 1951) is a successful British singer-songwriter, from Middlesbrough. He is best known for his 1989 album The Road to Hell. His father owned an ice-cream parlour just outside Middlesbrough, in Guisborough, but previously had parlours throughout the area. Locally, "going to Rea's" (pronounced "Ree-a's") meant going out for some ice-cream.Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early career 1.2 European breakthrough 1.3 After Auberge 1.4 Fighting with cancer and back to the blues 1.5 Blue Guitars 2 Film 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 Compilations 4 See also 5 External links BiographyEarly careerRea won a national talent contest in 1975 but was unable to clinch a record contract. He left the band Magdalene to pursue a solo career and achieved great success when he signed to the Magnet label and recorded the album Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? in 1978. ("Benny Santini" was rumoured to have been a stage name Rea considered). With the help of single Fool (If You Think It's Over) the album went gold in the U.S..European breakthroughRea began to focus his attention on Europe, releasing eight albums in the 1980s. It wasn't until 1985's 'Shamrock Diaries' and the songs 'Stainsby Girls' and 'Josephine', that UK audiences began to take notice of him. Follow up albums 'On The Beach' and 'Dancing With Strangers' became big UK hits before the New Light Through Old Windows compilation album in 1988 brought Rea great success, cementing his reputation as one of the UK's finest singer-songwriters. His next full album was to be his major breakthrough. 'The Road to Hell' [1989] enjoyed massive success, not least of which was becoming his first number one album in the UK. These successes could not be mirrored in the U.S., however, where it failed to chart. The follow-up album, Auberge, also enjoyed massive European success, reaching the top spot in the UK.After AubergeAfter 'Auberge' Chris Rea released 'God's Great Banana Skin' which managed to reach Number 4 in the UK, only being denied the top spot by Bon Jovi's 'Keep The Faith'. the album returned Rea to the rockier sound of 'Road To Hell' and the single 'Nothing To Fear' gave him another Top 20 hit. A year later 'Espresso Logic' hit the Top 10 and 'Julia', written about his second daughter, gave him his 11th Top 40. A period of ill health meant his next album did not appear until 1998. Despite no singles being released and little promotion, 'The Blue Cafe' still made the UK Top 10. However it proved to be Rea's last. In 1999, 10 years after 'Road To Hell' Rea released 'Road To Hell' Part 2. Many felt Rea had begun to lose his way, the album received no promotion and as a result never made the Top 40. However it didn't get Rea down and in 2000 he released 'King Of The Beach', receiving critical praise and a healthy Top 30 placing.In 2001 a remix of Rea's 1986 On The Beach single by York was released and enjoyed moderate dancefloor success.Fighting with cancer and back to the bluesFollowing a severe cancer (and only a 50-50 chance to survive after an operation), Rea promised to himself that if he could make it out after the operation, he would be returning to the Blues roots. This is what he did in 2002, releasing the album Dancing Down The Stony Road following recording sessions in France and the UK. (An abridged version of the album was later released with the title Stony Road.) The album was followed by a DVD of the same name, comprising a "Making Of" documentary and his performance at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Rea set up his own JazzeeBlue label in 2003 to free himself from the pressure of record companies and their illogical expectations. Since then he has released the blues albums Blue Street (Five Guitars) (an instrumental jazz-blues effort with impressive guitarwork by Rea) and the recently released The Blue Jukebox (another jazz-blues