CHRIS Rea, one of the UK’s foremost singers and songwriters is set to return to Bournemouth when he plays the BIC next year as part of a full UK tour.

He will play the Windsor Hall on Tuesday March 20, 2012 with tickets on sale now.

Following his sell-out UK and European tour in 2010 and 2009’s UK Top Ten album Still So Far To Go – The Best of Chris Rea, the tour will be in support of the release of his first new material in over a decade.

The elaborate 3CD and 2DVD ‘The Santo Spirito Project’ will include a brand new studio album and two bespoke feature films on DVD, written and directed by Chris.

The first feature is a raw and brutally honest chronicle on bullfighting and features neo-classical and Spanish themed gypsy music and the second feature follows a man through the city of Florence in his search for the truth, on a journey which he may or may not wish he began. The music to accompany both special feature films will be contained on 2CDs.

Chris explains his rationale for such an ambitious project: “I love creating things and passionately believe we (the artists) should be looking to try new ways of bringing what we do to the public.

“There should be no rules whatsoever and, for God’s sake, there are alternatives to TV talent shows.

“Sometimes, those who have had extremely good fortune in music allow only X Factor type TV shows to set the musical and cultural agenda of this county by actually doing nothing new or different themselves.”

With a career that spans over 30 years, both The Road to Hell in 1989 and Auberge in 1991 debuted at No 1 in the UK, cementing his position as arguably one of the country’s finest musicians and songwriters.