14 DAY TRIAL // When he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the most dangerous forms because it is usually diagnosed in late stages, in 1994, Chris Rea had the world at his feet. He was preparing to tour the US, had many hits climbing the charts, money in the bank, millions of fans adoring him and a wife with whom he shared everything. The cancer diagnosis was not the end, though, the singer says now in the first revealing interview about his condition, but rather the beginning of a new – and, surprisingly enough, better – stage in his life.
Like most celebrities we see today, Rea too thought he was invincible, the center of the universe without whom the world would not even make sense. Countless surgeries later, months spent in a row on the hospital bed as doctors tried to make his organs function again or, on the contrary, laboring to take them out, the critically acclaimed singer says he’s found a new meaning to life: what’s important is not money and certainly not the kind of fame that vanishes on a whim, but love. He’s happy now and, as a result, he will also start touring Europe again because he wants fans to know he will never forget they made this happen.
“I have lost count and don’t keep dates [of the surgeries]. I suffer from inflammation and the breakdown of a certain kind of tissue. Or, at least, that’s what I’m told. Why did it happen in the first place? The wrong kind of DNA, I think. I have found out who are my real friends, thanks to the illness and hospitals. I have nearly died – and have seen what is real. It was not anything to do with the money. So I’ve started to get to know people in the village where I live for the first time.” Rea says for the Daily Mail in the brutally honest interview.
The singer has learned what matters the most in life are precisely the things we tend to take for granted every day, like those closest to us or even the people whom we are forced by circumstance to be near. What also matters is doing things (music, in his case) for pleasure alone and leave all other motivations aside, because they offer little consolation in the long run. It took Chris Rea a disease that is often labeled a certain killer to be saved and, as he puts it, learn a lesson in mortality, a thing other stars could also use – though he’s adamant no one deserves to go through what he’s been through.
“Once I faced the fact I was going to deal with illness for the rest of my life, I got on with what I really wanted to do. Touring is easy, because we are spoilt rotten. If you are a musician at the top end, it’s fun. I do it for pure pleasure, not because it is my reason for being. I’m not a saint. It has taken a life-threatening illness and a series of operations to get to the point I am now. I would not wish what I’ve had on anyone. But many celebrities could do with facing their own mortality.” Chris Rea further says.
58-year-old Rea is releasing a 2-CD, greatest-hits album, “Come So Far, Yet So Far to Go: The Best of Chris Rea,” on October 5. Next year, he will also put out a new album and an autobiography, “The Road to Hell and Back.” The European tour kicks off in January. For more details, please see the full interview here.