{"id":6939,"date":"2025-12-24T22:13:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=6939"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:13:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:13:55","slug":"for-millions-of-fans-chris-rea-will-forever-be-the-voice-of-winter-roads-homeward-journeys-and-bittersweet-christmas-memories-but-behind-the-warmth-of-driving-home-for-christmas-this-holiday-seas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=6939","title":{"rendered":"For millions of fans, Chris Rea will forever be the voice of winter roads, homeward journeys, and bittersweet Christmas memories. But behind the warmth of Driving Home for Christmas, this holiday season has carried a devastating weight for the famously private singer. In just three months, Chris Rea became the third of his siblings to pass away, a sequence of loss that has left his family reeling. Insiders say the deaths came quietly, without public statements or headlines \u2014 exactly the way Rea has always lived his life \u2014 but the impact has been profound. Friends describe a Christmas marked not by celebration, but by reflection and silence. For a man whose music has so often explored longing, distance, and the ache of returning home, the timing feels cruelly symbolic. This year, the song millions play for comfort carries a deeper, unspoken sadness… WATCH VIDEO BELOW \ud83d\udc47\ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Rea<\/span>\u2018s family have been left heartbroken after he became the third of his siblings to die within just three months, the Daily Mail has learned.<\/p>\n

And in a further tragic twist the composer and singer of the \u2018Driving Home for\u00a0Christmas<\/span>\u2018 anthem was said to have been overjoyed by the recent birth of a first grandchild shortly before his death on Monday aged 74.<\/p>\n

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Mr Rea\u2019s older sister Camille Whitaker, 79, described his death as \u2018tragic\u2019 and said the sudden loss had left the family in shock coming so soon after two other deaths, of their brother and then sister.<\/p>\n

Mrs Whitaker said the youngest of her six siblings, Nicholas, sadly passed away in a Yorkshire hospital in October from brain\u00a0cancer<\/span>, at the age of 66.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Then, just days after his funeral, Mrs Whitaker\u2019s twin sister Geraldine Milward died suddenly.<\/p>\n

Mrs Whitaker told the Daily Mail: \u2018It is an awful pain. It is gut-wrenching what happened. The family has been quite shocked by it.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is tragic. We can\u2019t sort of get around it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Chris had been one of seven siblings, and his sister painted a picture of an idyllic childhood with her Italian father Camillo and English mother Winifred, in which Christmases were \u2018wonderful\u2019.<\/p>\n

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\"Mr<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mr Rea\u2019s older sister Camille Whitaker, 79, described the death of the \u2018Driving Home for Christmas\u2019 star (pictured on his farewell tour in 2006) as \u2018tragic\u2019 and said the sudden loss had left the family in shock coming so soon after two other deaths, of their brother and then sister<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mrs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mrs Whitaker said the youngest of her six siblings, Nicholas (pictured), sadly passed away in a Yorkshire hospital in October from brain cancer, at the age of 66. Then, just days after his funeral, Mrs Whitaker\u2019s twin sister Geraldine Milward died suddenly<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mrs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mrs Whitaker told the Daily Mail: \u2018It is an awful pain. It is gut-wrenching what happened. The family has been quite shocked by it\u2019. Pictured: Her late brother Nicholas<\/p>\n

With the pain shared by the Rea family this year, Chris was able to experience the joyous news of the birth of a grandson, Mrs Whitaker said.<\/p>\n

\u2018He lived with his wife and children in Buckinghamshire. He always kept very close to his family,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

\u2018He has two daughters and he recently became a grandfather, to a boy, he was very, very pleased.<\/p>\n

\u2018That was wonderful. His eldest, Josephine, inspired one of his songs.<\/p>\n

\u2018And Julia, his second daughter, she is the lady who got married and had a baby.<\/p>\n

\u2018Christopher had terrible, terrible health and has been unwell for sometime before he died.<\/p>\n

\u2018His family will be completely wrecked by it.<\/p>\n

\u2018He was a very shy and quiet man. I loved him dearly.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mrs Whitaker said she last spoke to Chris just six days ago on the phone.<\/p>\n

She said: \u2018We kept in touch with each other.<\/p>\n

\u2018I haven\u2019t seen him for nearly two years but I talked to him about six days ago. We used to ring each other.<\/p>\n

\u2018We went to two weddings together. But he has been home ridden for all of that time since.<\/p>\n

\u2018He got in touch. I used to ring him and if he didn\u2019t answer then he would call me back.<\/p>\n

\u2018And he did that last week, which was very nice, not knowing what was going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u2018He was very quiet and very shy. He was a bit of a reluctant star.<\/p>\n

\u2018He was very quiet, he was not a great person on the phone but I enjoyed our conversations.<\/p>\n

\u2018It has left me feeling very upset. It is shocking.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Chris<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Chris had been one of seven siblings, and his sister painted a picture of an idyllic childhood. Sharing an old family photograph (pictured, with Chris, left, Mrs Whitaker, right, and their mother Winifred, centre), she said: \u2018Chris was the apple of my mother\u2019s eye\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"'He<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018He lived with his wife and children in Buckinghamshire. He always kept very close to his family,\u2019 Chris\u2019s sister continued. Pictured: Chris with his wife Joan and daughters Julia, left, and Josephine, second right<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Amid<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Amid the pain shared by the Rea family this year, Chris was able to experience the joyous news of the birth of a grandson, Mrs Whitaker said, born to his second daughter Julia (pictured)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sharing a photograph of her and Chris together as children with their mother Winifred, Mrs Whitaker told us: \u2018Chris was the apple of my mother\u2019s eye. She and my father were so proud of him.\u2019<\/p>\n

Reflecting on their childhood in Middlesbrough, Mrs Whitaker said: \u2018Our father was Italian but born in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u2018When we were growing up, there was an ice cream factory run by Italians around the corner. It was very nice.<\/p>\n

\u2018Later, when Chris was getting onto the charts, he used to stay here. My husband and I used to love him staying.<\/p>\n

\u2018He has been ill for some time, hiding away from most people.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is sad, and it will be for a while. I\u2019m pleased for him that he is getting a lot of coverage in the press.<\/p>\n

\u2018Watching television today, it\u2019s amazing, what is being said about him. I never realised it was that far up on the boards.<\/p>\n

\u2018What I am quite moved about is the amount of press that he has got.\u2019<\/p>\n

She added: \u2018His Christmas song is what made him, but it\u2019s quite old now.<\/p>\n

\u2018Going home for Christmas was about driving home to Middlesbrough. We would always go home for Christmas, always.<\/p>\n

\u2018We had really really wonderful Christmases with my parents and the song it\u2019s all about the things that happened.\u2019<\/p>\n

Paying tribute to Chris following his death, his wife Joan and their daughters Josie and Julia, said he died surrounded by his family.<\/p>\n

They said in a statement: \u2018It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris.<\/p>\n

\u2018He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.\u2019<\/p>\n

His iconic Christmas song has made a reappearance on the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007, including making number ten in 2021.<\/p>\n

Chris, who met Joan when he was 16, had suffered with serious health issues including peritonitis, pancreatic cancer and diabetes.<\/p>\n

He also suffered a stroke in 2016 but he recovered and went on to release two more albums, Road Songs For Lovers in 2017 and One Fine Day in 2019.<\/p>\n

Chris previously said: \u2018I\u2019ve had nine major operations in ten years. A lot of it is to do with something called retroperitoneal fibrosis, where the internal tissues attack each other.<\/p>\n

\u2018No one knew it existed 20 years ago, and it\u2019s completely unpredictable.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s affected the colon, the pancreas, the gall bladder, the liver \u2013 and then I get a stroke.\u2019<\/p>\n

Speaking of his successes and impact on his health, he said: \u2018I made a lot of money, but you can dangerously let it lead you on\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018It depends what company you keep. I once said to Michael Winner, \u201cI\u2019m the poorest man on this Barbados beach. On days like today, the richest man in the world is the one who hasn\u2019t got a bad shoulder\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Rea\u2018s family have been left heartbroken after he became the third of his siblings to die within just three months, the Daily Mail has learned. And… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6941,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939\/revisions\/6941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}