A former presenter has recalled Chris Rea asking for his song to be played on radio before he signed a recording contract. Stan Laundon, 82, said the Middlesbrough musician, who died on Monday aged 74, walked into the former BBC Radio Teesside building in Linthorpe Road with a track called Love Is The Way.

Comedian Bob Mortimer has paid tribute to singer Chris Rea following his death at the age of 74, describing his friend as a Middlesbrough-born “legend”.

However, in the lead-up to his sad death, Chris also had some happy family news as he became a grandfather following the recent birth of his first grandchild.