Chris Rea

I am in that unique little club where I went into music because I love music, not because I wanted to be rich and famous. ”

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. ”

It's bleak behind the Iron Curtain, although they do have the strongest vodka I've ever had in my life. ”

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. ”

I made a lot of money, but you can dangerously let it lead you on. It depends what company you keep. ”

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

I think all the business stuff - the promotion, the hype, the high-power lunches, and the permanently injected smiles - is boring. ”

I had to put me foot down with the first record company. It was about 1975, when singers were being given names like Gary Glitter and Alvin Stardust, so they wanted to call me Benny Santini just because me dad's an Irish-Italian with an ice-cream business! ”

In a funny way, the illness spurred me on. I thought to myself, 'I've got to get through this operation to make a blues album.' ”

I played a gig at the Montreax Jazz Festival once - and on a song called 'It's All Gone,' I had to do free-form slide solo. It's the best thing I've ever done - because I wasn't thinking about it. ”