We have plenty to be proud about, check out some of our finest musical talents below:
Chris Rea has sold a massive 30 million albums worldwide, is widely acknowledged as one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. Born in Middlesbrough, Rea was the son of ice cream producer Camillo Rea who owned an ice cream factory and ran 21 cafés when Chris was a boy giving Chris the work ethic that defined him as a musician. It was early to mid-80s when Rea really made a name for himself working with some of the biggest musicians in the business. The Road to Hell (Part 2), Rea's 18th final reached the UK Top 10 confirming Chris Rea as one of the North East's top guitarists.
Paul Rodgers was born in Middlesbrough and played bass (he later moved onto vocals) in local band The Roadrunners, which just before leaving Middlesbrough for the London music scene changed its name to The Wildflowers. Other members of this band were Micky Moody (later of Whitesnake) and Bruce Thomas (later of Elvis Costello and The Attractions). Rogers then rose to fame as lead singer of Free and later Bad Company who gained popularity in the 1970s. Yet he is perhaps most famous for his collaboration with Queen as the band's touring singer after Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991. This collaboration started in 2004 and saw Queen + Paul Rodgers (often shortened to QPR) tour the globe packing out stadiums and playing in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Rodgers was named as the 55 Greatest Singer of All Time by a poll in the Rolling Stone magazine and perhaps remains one of Middlesbrough's great musical exports.
Micky Moody is another one of Middlesbrough's great musicians. While still at school in Middlesbrough during the 1960s Moody formed a band named The Roadrunners with several other local boys including a certain Paul Rodgers (later to form Free and Bad Company), and later, Bruce Thomas, who would eventually play bass with Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Though the 70s Micky co-founded Snafu that helped him to establish himself as one of the UK's leading guitarists, building on this success he played alongside some of the music greats including Eric Clapton, Bruce Dickinson, Sam Brown, Gary Brooker, Rick Wakeman, Newton Faulkner, Alice Cooper and Boy George. Appearing on over 100 albums as a guest guitarist since 2000 Moody has produced several solo albums including I Eat Them For Breakfast (2000), Don't Blame Me (2006), Acoustic Journeyman (2007) and Electric Journeyman (2009).
