DRIVING Home For Christmas singer Chris Rea left a £12million final gift to his family, documents show.
The hitmaker, who died three days before Christmas last year aged 74, passed the sum into a trust for his wife Joan.
Court records seen by The Sun show Rea left £14,435,894, reduced to £12,063,178 after taxes, debts and costs were removed.
A grant was issued by the High Court earlier this week.
He had signed his final will in October 2025, just two months before his death.
In the 19-page document, Rea asked to be cremated.
Joan will also collect all of her husband’s personal belongings and future royalties from her husband’s hits being played on the radio.
Rea was born in Middlesbrough in 1951 to an Italian father and Irish mother.
He joined local band Magdalene in 1973 before launching his solo career by performing in local bars and clubs.
His 1978 debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, spawned the US hit Fool (If You Think It’s Over), which landed him a £15,000 payday and a Grammy nomination for best new artist.
Rea produced 25 studio albums in a lengthy career, scoring two UK Number Ones – The Road to Hell in 1989 and follow-up album Auberge in 1991.
But it was his festive track, 1978’s Driving Home for Christmas, that made him a household name.
Rea 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 the lengthy trip home.
The track only reached Number 53 when originally released in 1986, but has since become a staple of the festive season.
It has returned to the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007 and peaked at Number 10 in 2021.
Rea was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at just 33 and went through nine operations in a decades-long health battle, spending more than 32 weeks in hospital.
He lost his pancreas, gallbladder and part of his liver to surgeries, and later developed type 1 diabetes.
At one stage, the star was taking 34 pills a day.
He suffered a stroke in 2016, prompting him to give up cigarettes, before collapsing on stage in Oxford the following year.
Chris 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.”
The star continued performing despite his illnesses, and made his final TV appearance in a 2020 Christmas special of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, filmed in his home city of Middlesbrough.
Chris met wife Joan when they were both teenagers growing up in Teesside and they stayed married for 57 years.
They had two daughters, Josephine, born in 1983, and Julia, born in 1989.
Comic Mortimer and TV host Jools Holland led tributes to Chris after his death last year.
Bob, 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”.
And Squeeze pianist Holland said: “Sad we’ve lost dear Chris Rea. A brilliant musician and the kindest of men.”