"They gave me a one-in-five chance of surviving," Chris Rea says of his bout of pancreatitis which almost killed him seven years ago.
It was an event which not only marked a pivotal point in his life, but also in his music, and it's still at the forefront of his mind.
"It's always going to be difficult – I have seven different injections and 34 different pills to take each day," the 57-year-old said.
It would have been easy, and perhaps sensible, to retire on the millions he had already made in music.
"We always feared when the day might come when the public no longer wanted us," he said.
"When God gave me a second life, he also gave me a second career."
And he intends to enjoy that second career to the full.
Chris released his debut album – Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? – in 1978, the title was a reference to record company suggestions that he change his name to something more commercial.
It launched the Middlesborough man on a prolific career which fused rock and blues, and earned him a dedicated fanbase.
Perhaps his most recognised album, The Road to Hell, was released in 1989, topping the UK charts and garnering attention across Europe.
He remained productive in the 1990s while his health became an issue, but it was the chronic pancreatitis which almost ended his life.
The illness resulted in life-or-death operation, before which Chris said goodbye to his wife and prepared for the very real possibility that he might not recover.
Thankfully, the procedure was a success and, after six months spent convalescing, Chris began to look at his career.
With his dusky voice associated with a more middle-of-the-road sound, and featured on dozens of driving compilations, the renewed and reinvigorated artist was determined to challenge the boundaries of music.
Chris returned to the blues, began releasing records on his own label, and played with the conventional idea of what an album should be.
That ultimately resulted in Blue Guitars – an 11-CD release which covered the range of blues music and also included a DVD, paintings and a book.
Commercially, it was viewed by conventional record companies as suicide, but it went on to sell 150,000 copies.
While Chris enjoyed the success, it also crystallised the notion that record company bosses are increasingly out of touch, and ruining it for fans.
"The music business is dead," he said.
"I'm qualified to say this because I've sold 24 million records in the past 20 years.
"I did try to warn a lot of record executives. They've killed the album culture – the idea of loving and buying an album – and they've killed the specialness of performance."
And it's something he's seen close to home.
"I watch it in my daughters – they're the best market research there is – they just don't see music as special," he said.
It's with this in mind that Chris is releasing records these days.
After Blue Guitars, record company executives would congratulate him on its success.
"I asked if they wished they had released it," he said, "and they said no, it would have been too much hassle."
But he adds there was a certain amount of satisfaction in proving he could do it without them.

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Despite having sworn off touring after his last round of live outings, Chris is back on the road.
"We found a way of working it around my medical condition," he said.
"You never know when you're going to get a bad attack – it's like a severe case of food poisoning."
His daily regime of medication is about containing the disease rather than curing it.
"It's for life, I'm afraid, but they told me I'm lucky to be alive," he said.
Yet the notion that being on the road with a band isn't necessarily the best place for someone with health issues is something Chris rejects.
"That's completely incorrect – what you're talking about is a myth which was generated many years ago," he said.
Hard-drinking, hard-partying performers are more fiction than reality these days, he added.
"Even today's young bands don't behave like that any more."
The hedonistic excesses which were once seen to characterise touring are not part of his life, or that of his band.
"We've never seen ourselves as rock stars – we're more interested in guitars, amplifiers and musical styles, that's what turns us on," Chris said.
And he said it's a trait of many musicians, particularly the more successful ones, that they were more concerned with their craft than any hedonistic lifestyle which may go with it.
"You're starting to see that with the people who are still around today – Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, Ry Cooder – they're the people who did it because they love music," he said.
"And anyway, people who do music are too busy doing music to think about anything else – it's a 24-hour job."

Chris's latest album – a three vinyl, double CD affair – is called The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes, and centres round a fictional band from the Fifties and Sixties.

"It makes people smile," he said, and it links in to the whole idea of making a release something more than merely a record.

"It has to be special," he said. "People will buy something if they think it's special."

And the concept is carried into the live shows.

"A 1950s band comes on and does Shadows-type music, before turning into a Sixties-style blues band," he said.

Then there's a set of Chris Rea favourites, before 72 flying guitars make an appearance.

He will be taking the show across the UK before it comes to Belfast, which will be the penultimate concert of the tour.

"We'll all get end-of-tour blues," he said, rejecting any notion that he'll be glad when it finishes.

"You build up relationships, it's a bit of a travelling circus, and you're always sad that it's over."

After the tour, he intends to relax by building two fountains – "it's a hobby of mine" – doing more painting and writing new songs.

I suggest it sounds like he's working hard.

"None of it's work," he said, "work was when I worked in the ice cream factory, that was actually hard."

The ice cream factory was his father's in Middlesborough, and he prefers this life – illness and all – to the one he could have had.
"My wife and myself live for the whole artistic thing – it keeps you young, and you don't have to be wealthy do it," he said.

And the joy of creativity is something Chris advocates: "I'd recommend it to everyone," he said.

Asked to pick a highlight of his career, Chris said: "The highest point is now.

"I'm just eternally grateful that these things have happened – we didn't expect it at all."

Chris Rea performs as part of The Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes at the Waterfront Hall on Tuesday, April 8. Tickets cost £33/£30 and are available from the box office on 9033 5544 and usual Ticketmaster outlets.