Driving Home for Christmas hitmaker Chris Rea left a staggering £12million gift to his grieving family, new documents have revealed. The dad-of-two, who passed away just three days before Christmas 2025 at the age of 74, left the eye-watering sum in a trust for his wife, Joan. Court records seen by The Sun show the usician left £14,436,894, which later dropped to £12,063,178 after taxes, debts and costs were removed.
A grant was issued by the High Court earlier this week. He had reportedly signed his final will in October 2025, just two months before he died. In the 19-page document, Rea stated that he would like to be cremated after his death.
Joan will also collect all of her husband's personal belongings and future royalties from his biggest hits being played on the radio. The chart-topping legend was born in the heart of Middlesbrough in 1951 to an Italian father and an Irish mother.
He soon joined a local band named Magdalene in 1973 before venturing off on his own, launching his solo career by performing in local bars and clubs. His 1978 debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, birthed the US hit Fool (If You Think It's Over), which earned him a £15,000 payday and a Grammy nomination for best new artist.
Rea went on to produce 25 studio albums throughout his lengthy career, scoring two UK Number Ones - The Road to Hell in 1989 and his follow-up album Auberge in 1991. But it was his festive 1978 track Driving Home for Christmas that ultimately made him a household name.
The singer had been dumped by his manager and banned from driving when his then-girlfriend Joan was forced to drive down to London in a Mini to drive him back up north. He later recalled coming up with the melody and lyrics during his lengthy drive home.
At the time, the track only reached number 53 when it was released in 1986, but it has since become a winter classic. It has returned to the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007 and peaked at number 10 in 2021.
At the age of 33, Rea was suddenly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which led to nine operations and 32 weeks in hospital in what would be a decade-long health battle. At the end of the journey, he lost his pancreas, gallbladder and part of his liver to surgeries, before later developing type 1 diabetes.
At one point, the star was taking up to 34 pills a day. In 2016, he suffered a stroke, which prompted him to give up cigarettes, before collapsing on stage in Oxford the following year. Chris previously said of his health battles: "The original illness hit me hard.
"I almost had a nervous breakdown with the shock of it. That was the Mount Everest to climb. When they said it was pancreatic cancer, I could not believe it. It seemed that if your DNA says you are going to have cancer, then you can. They did not think I would recover from the first operation, but I was determined to do so for my wife and the girls."
Despite his declining health, the star continued to perform and made his final TV appearance in a 2020 Christmas special of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, which was filmed near his home city of Middlesbrough. Chris met his wife when they were both teenagers growing up in Teeside, and they stayed married for 57 years.
In their five-decade relationship, they went on to welcome two daughters: Josephine, born in 1983, and Julia, born in 1989. Comedian Mortimer and TV host Jools Holland led tributes to Chris following his death last Christmas.
Bob, who recorded a cover of Rea's Let's Dance with Middlesbrough FC in 1997, wrote: "A lovely, brilliant, funny giant of a bloke... RIP Chris." His record label, BMG, said: "Over a remarkable career spanning more than four decades, Chris Rea created an extraordinary and deeply human body of work, defined by emotional honesty, restraint, and craft."
Sound engineer Stuart Epps, who worked with the singer for decades, remembered him as "an amazing guy and an amazing musician." Elsewhere, Squeeze pianist Holland added: "Sad we've lost dear Chris Rea. A brilliant musician and the kindest of men."
