Chris Rea Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?

Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? is the debut album by the British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1978. The title of the album is a reference to a name Rea's UK record label (Magnet) had considered christening him with to make him sound more attractive commercially. The album peaked at number forty-nine on the Billboard Hot 200, and charted for 12 weeks. The first single lifted from the album, "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", remains his biggest hit in the United States, peaking at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, charted for 15 weeks, and reaching number one on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, and charting for 18 weeks.

Though he had already cut a single, "So Much Love," for Magnet Records in 1975, this was Chris Rea's first full-length album. While "So Much Love" had basically disappeared quickly upon its release, the song "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" from Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? became his largest hit, especially in the U.S., where it was nominated for a Grammy (though it didn't win)…

ERA 1 (As, Bs and Rarities 1978-1984) is a new Chris Rea rarities compilation that brings together his early work in a triple-CD package.

Indeed, whatever happened to Benny Santini? The name that Magnet Records were considering using for their new solo signing but instead he went with his real name of Chris Rea, and Deltics was his second album after Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? and his first to reach the charts, althoug it didn't make much of an impact, only peaking at number 54 in the spring of 1979 – not the best time for an introspective singer/songwriter to crash the charts. Named after the British Rail class 55 of diesel locomotive trains that were built in the early '60s and were just about to be withdrawn from service, Rea showed his interest in various forms of transport that would continue throughout his recording career.

UK compilation album that brings together a collection of Chris Rea's early work between 1978 to 1984. The set provides a comprehensive look at Rea's progression as a solo artist, which started following spells in bands Magdalene and The Beautiful Losers. With a career spanning over 40 years and over 30 million album sales, Chris Rea's distinctive husky-gravel vocal and incredible body of work has seen him become one of the most loved solo artists the UK have ever produced. A formidable songwriter, and still playing live to this day, he has released an incredible 24 studio albums, the most recent being 'Road Songs for Lovers' in 2017 which was met with huge critical and commercial acclaim.

Best known for his string of late-'80s MOR blues-pop hit singles, Middlesbrough's biggest musical export Chris Rea has spent the best part of the noughties reinventing himself as a Tom Waits-esque troubadour with a series of ambitious and often gargantuan-sized albums focusing on the vintage slide guitar blues sounds that influenced his hugely successful 30-year career. More up to date than 1994's The Best Of and more extensive than 2005's Heartbeats, Still So Far to Go is the husky-voiced guitarist's first hits collection to place as much emphasis on his later more revered and prolific output as his more familiar and commercial airplay staples. Spanning four decades, the comprehensive two-CD, 34-track compilation features material from his 1978 debut Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? (his biggest U.S. hit, "Fool [If You Think It's Over]") right up to 2005's mammoth 11-disc offering Blue Guitars ("Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49"), including the 1996 soundtrack La Passione ("When the Grey Skies Turn to Blue") to his self-penned film of the same name.