Chris Rea has been played on NTS over 30 times, featured on 30 episodes and was first played on 14 February 2015.

Christopher Anton Rea (born 4 March 1951) is an English rock and blues singer and guitarist from Middlesbrough. A "gravel-voiced guitar stalwart" known for his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty five solo albums, two of which topped the UK Albums Chart. Described as "rock's ultimate survivor", given his recovery from several bouts of serious illness, Rea was "a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10" with his single "The Road to Hell (Part 2)". The album, The Road to Hell (1989), topped the album chart, as did its successor, Auberge (1991). His many hit songs include "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat", "Stainsby Girls", "Josephine", "On the Beach", "Let's Dance", "Driving Home for Christmas", "Working on It", "Tell Me There's a Heaven", "Auberge" and "Julia". He also recorded a duet with Elton John, "If You Were Me". Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

He has never toured the United States, where he is best known for the 1978 single "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, earning him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1978. A decade later, "Working On It" topped the Mainstream Rock chart. He has sold more than 40 million records worldwide.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Rea

Studio albums Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? (Magnet, 1978) Deltics (Magnet, 1979) Tennis (Magnet, 1980) Chris Rea (Magnet, 1981) Water Sign (Magnet, 1983) Wired to the Moon (Magnet, 1984) Shamrock Diaries (Magnet, 1985) On the Beach (Magnet, 1986) Dancing with Strangers (Magnet, 1987) The Road to Hell (WEA, 1989) Auberge (EastWest, 1991) God's Great Banana Skin (EastWest, 1992) Espresso Logic (EastWest, 1993) La Passione (soundtrack, EastWest, 1996) The Blue Cafe (EastWest, 1998) The Road to Hell: Part 2 (EastWest, 1999) King of the Beach (EastWest, 2000) Dancing Down the Stony Road/Stony Road (Jazzee Blue, 2002 Blue Street (Five Guitars) (Jazzee Blue, 2003) Hofner Blue Notes (Jazzee Blue, 2003) The Blue Jukebox (Jazzee Blue, 2004) Blue Guitars (Jazzee Blue, 2005) The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes (Jazzee Blue, 2008) Santo Spirito Blues (Jazzee Blue, 2011) Road Songs for Lovers (Jazzee Blue, 2017) One Fine Day (Rhino, limited release, 2019)