Chris Rea

“After I got back my career and my artistic freedom in 1982, my golden rule is the music must never suffer.”

“I'd become a corporate rock musician. I worked for 'Chris Rea.' He felt like another person. I even talked about him in the third person.”

“Eric Clapton's scales - when he comes off a high note and it's time for a refrain or a little bit of a rest, he peals off scales going downwards that are so good it's unbelievable.”

“I've 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.”

“When I was young, I wanted, most of all, to be a writer of films and film music. But Middlesbrough in 1968 wasn't the place to be if you wanted to do movie scores.”

“The voice has been my joker card that sometimes has played like an ace and sometimes a joker. When you sing the way I sing, it's impossible to get people to talk about anything else.”

“I remember my first day at grammar school, being the only person who was me. Everybody else was like everybody else, and there I was, tanned, in a freezing cold playground in the middle of Middlesbrough, wondering what on earth I was doing there.”

“I live halfway between London and the airport, which means I can operate my European career and get home every night. It costs a lot of money, but it's worth it.”

“The first time I arrived in Hollywood for the Grammy Awards, I thought I'd bump into people who mattered, such as Ry Cooder or Randy Newman. I was disappointed to see the people I'd always thought of as pop stars. They would charge around the stage rather than enjoy the music.”

“The operation left me very emotional. I cry a lot anyway. I've always been the type to feel hurt easily, but now I hit rock bottom.”

“I never had a desire to be famous.”

“That is the music that I have always wanted to play: real, genuine guitar music.”

“Back in 1997, I got to race a Ferrari at the famous Monza circuit in Italy - a dream come true.”

“Dad was a distant figure, autonomous, a cross between the Pope and Mussolini. He was very Italian, as were all of my uncles, although they were second generation.”

“It's impossible for a couple to bring up two children without having lots and lots of arguments.”

“That's why I've never made a live album - I can't bear listening to myself!”

“I never got the chance to put drums on 'Watersigns,' because the company was in a rush to release it - and me.”

“My ambition, a long time ago, was to be a film music writer. A compromise then was to be the guy who wrote songs for a band and played slide guitar. Then the singer didn't turn up for an audition, and I was the only one who knew the words. That was it - bingo! Life took a different course.”

“My family is the No. 1 priority. Next is the motor-racing season.”

“If I'm ever stuck on the M25 - the 'Road to Hell' - I'll wind the window down and start singing, 'I'm driving home for Christmas' at people in cars alongside. They love it. It's like giving them a present.”