Chris Rea's family have been left heartbroken after he became the third of his siblings to die within just three months, the Daily Mail has learned. Mrs Whitaker told the Daily Mail: 'It is an awful pain. Mrs Whitaker said she last spoke to Chris just six days ago on the phone. Sharing an old family photograph (pictured, with Chris, left, Mrs Whitaker, right, and their mother Winifred, centre), she said: 'Chris was the apple of my mother's eye''He lived with his wife and children in Buckinghamshire. Reflecting on their childhood in Middlesbrough, Mrs Whitaker said: 'Our father was Italian but born in the UK.

Source: Daily Mail December 24, 2025 16:34 UTC