By Erin Karasin, Evening Standard | Chris Rea was the third of his siblings to die within just three months, his heartbroken older sister has revealed. The singer – who was best known for the Christmas hit Driving Home For Christmas – died on Monday aged 74 after a “short illness”.
His sister Camille Whitaker, 79, revealed their family are in “shock” as his death comes soon after two other deaths – of their brother and then sister.
The youngest of the seven siblings, Nicholas, died aged 66 from brain cancer in a Yorkshire hospital in October.
Just days after his funeral, Whitaker’s twin sister Geraldine Milward died suddenly.
“It is an awful pain. It is gut-wrenching what happened. The family has been quite shocked by it. It is tragic. We can’t sort of get around it,” Whitaker told the Daily Mail.
Rea and his siblings grew up in Middlesborough with an Italian father Camillo and English mother Winifred.
He lived with his wife Joan and two daughters Josephine and Julia in Buckinghamshire and “always kept very close” to the rest of his family.
Whitaker said that shortly before he died, Rea was overjoyed by the birth of his grandson as Julia had recently given birth.
“He recently became a grandfather, to a boy, he was very, very pleased. That was wonderful,” she revealed.
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During his battle with cancer, he signed over the rights to his entire music catalogue to Joan.
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He added with characteristic wit: “I gave her all the money, all the rights to all the songs, and now she won’t give them back.”
Driving Home For Christmas was released in 1986, peaking at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 2022. The song also hit number 30 in last week’s Christmas chart.
It is estimated to generate around £210,000 a year in royalties, helped by its annual return to the UK Singles Chart since 2007 and frequent use in advertising . . .
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Read more here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/family/chris-rea-was-third-of-his-siblings-to-die-in-three-months/
OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or if you want to discuss, call the old numbers at 800-273-TALK or 800-273-8255 for English and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
Posting for my Veteran/singer/songwriter/musician friend Troy Hoss: Heavy on my heart so here goes: This is a very real problem … 22 Veterans a day surrender to their demons. #SuicideAwareness | Call Veteran’s Hotline: 988 #1 or 844-647-1354
From Care2 via Jock Bartley on Facebook: Trump shut down our LGBTQ+ suicide and mental health hotline, but CANADA opened a US toll-free number to theirs… so our citizens can get help anytime, at no cost: 1-877-330-6366
Kindness & empathy have no borders.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
December 2025
24: Howie Klein, 77, American record label executive (Sire Records, Reprise Records) and activist, cancer; Iurie Mahovici, 63, Moldovan pianist and pedagogue.
23: Paa Kow, Ghanaian drummer and composer.
22: Chris Rea, 74, English singer-songwriter (“Fool (If You Think It’s Over)”, “Driving Home for Christmas”, “The Road to Hell”).
21: Jontho, 48, Norwegian singer (Ragnarok).
20: Lindomar Castilho, 85, Brazilian singer; Ken Downie, British musician (The Black Dog); Michał Urbaniak, 82, Polish jazz musician.
19: Mick Abrahams, 82, English guitarist and singer (Jethro Tull, Blodwyn Pig); Natalya Boyarskaya, 79, Russian violinist; Cosimo Filane, 86, Canadian singer.
17: Max Eider, British guitarist (The Jazz Butcher) and songwriter; Goldwire Mclendon, 95, American gospel singer.