The beloved festive anthem 'Driving Home For Christmas' is a staple of the UK holiday season, but the tale of its creation is as remarkable as the estimated £210,000 a year it continues to earn for its creator, the late rock musician Chris Rea. Penned in a moment of career uncertainty, the song became the engine for a fortune spent on supercars and property.
From a Tin Box to a Christmas Classic
The iconic song, released as a B-side in 1986, was actually written eight years earlier in 1978. At the time, Chris Rea was at a low ebb: dropped by his manager, at the end of his record contract, and with just £220 to his name. His future wife, Joan, drove their old Austin Mini from Middlesbrough to collect him from London's Abbey Road studios.
On the snowy journey back to Teesside, the couple got stuck in traffic. Watching miserable fellow motorists, Chris began singing 'we're driving home for Christmas' to himself. "Then, whenever the street lights shone inside the car, I started writing down lyrics," he later told The Guardian. The trip took six hours, ending at 3am.
Arriving home, a letter awaited from a US performing rights organisation. It contained a cheque for £15,000 after his song 'Fool (If You Think It's Over)' became a hit in America. "We went from being down to our last £220 to being able to buy a house," Rea recalled. The Christmas lyrics were stuffed in an old tin, forgotten for years.
An Accidental Hit and a Snowy Spectacle
The song only resurfaced when Rea was experimenting with a new keyboard years later. "I pretended I was Nat King Cole," he said, crafting a tune that perfectly fitted the old lyrics. It was released as the B-side to his 1986 single 'Hello Friend', but DJs began flipping the record over. It became an instant national hit.
Rea always insisted the tune was pure accident: "I'd never intended to write a Christmas hit – I was a serious musician." He first performed it live at Hammersmith Odeon on 21 December 1986 after pressure from his road crew. Determined to do it properly, he hired 12 snow cannons, burying the stalls in three feet of artificial snow—a stunt that cost him £12,000 in clean-up fees charged by the venue.
A Legacy in Streams, Supercars and Property
The song's enduring appeal is quantified by recent analysis from SEO company Dark House, which found 53 per cent of Chris Rea's Spotify streams come from his Christmas hit. It re-enters the UK Singles Chart annually, peaking at number 10 in 2021, and features in major adverts like the 2024 M&S campaign with Dawn French.
While hits like 'Road to Hell' contributed to 30 million record sales, the Christmas classic alone generated over £7 million of his estimated £15 million fortune across 39 years. This wealth funded a passion for vintage cars, including Ferraris and Lotuses, after unfulfilled ambitions of being a motor racing journalist. He once owned a F355 Berlinetta Ferrari, praised by Jeremy Clarkson.
Chris and his wife Joan lived in the same luxury home near Maidenhead, Buckinghamshire, since 1989, a property now believed to be worth over £3 million. In a moving final TV appearance on 'Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing' in 2020, Rea revealed he had given Joan all the royalties to 'Driving Home For Christmas' after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, joking she never gave them back.
The musician passed away on Monday, aged 74, following a short illness. A statement from his family confirmed he died peacefully in hospital, surrounded by his loved ones, closing the chapter on an artist whose accidental festive gift became the soundtrack to Christmas for millions.
