Saturday matinee - Chris Rea

English singer-songwriter Chris Rea first came to my attention in 1978 or 1979 with the hit single "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" from his debut album "Whatever Happened To Benny Santini". "Fool" peaked at #12 on the US charts, and was nominated for a Grammy for song of the year (it lost to the schmaltzy Billy Joel "Just The Way You Are").

And then as far as I knew, Rea fell of the edge of the earth. He continued to record and tour in Europe and the UK throughout the 1980's but I wasn't aware of him again until the late 1980's, when I happened to hear that familiar raspy voice on the radio, singing "On the Beach". Here's a video of a live version of "On the Beach":


Shortly after that, he released two really good albums in a row, "The Road to Hell" in 1989 and "Auberge" in 1991. Here's a video of the title cut from "The Road To Hell":


And then, he disappeared again. Well, I just found out that his disappearance was because he was deathly ill. But he recovered, and has since gone back to his blues roots. Here's a version of "Legacy Blues":