Despite his knack for slick pop, the principled and passionate Chris Rea never took the easy road

"He chafed at his record company's expectations: his 1978 debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? got its title after his label suggested that he might consider adopting a stage name, and he later protested that the producers he worked with made his music too glossy and smoothed-out. When 1989's The Road to Hell did well, his US record label thought he could be a huge star in America if he put the hours in touring, or appeared on MTV Unplugged; Rea declined to tour"

"or appeared on MTV Unplugged; Rea declined to tour and turned down the MTV offer because he'd seen Eric Clapton's performance on the show and it reminded me of [the middle-of-the-road BBC TV show] Pebble Mill at One. I thought Oh my God, I don't want anything to do with this'. He did not have much time for his fellow rock stars, claiming that the only one who hadn't disappointed him was Pink Floyd's David Gilmour."

"Eventually, a life-threatening illness led him to completely reassess his career and pursue his real musical passion, the blues: he claimed that during his recuperation from the operation that saved his life but left him without a pancreas and in permanently poor health, he'd had an epiphany after finding an old Sister Rosetta Tharpe album in a drawer, bursting into tears at the sight of it."

Chris Rea achieved transatlantic success with slick adult-oriented rock hits such as Josephine, On the Beach, The Road to Hell and Driving Home for Christmas, yet he resisted the trappings of commercial stardom. He openly despised his debut single and chafed at record-company expectations, including a suggested stage name and glossy production. He declined heavy touring and an MTV Unplugged appearance, distrusted most peers except David Gilmour, and later endured a life-threatening operation that left him without a pancreas. During recuperation he rediscovered a Sister Rosetta Tharpe album and embraced the blues. His uncompromised 2002 blues album was rejected by his label, which pushed for a duets record.

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