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Raymond " Rea" Michael Garvey (born 3 May 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist based in Germany. In 1998, he formed the band Reamonn. Over the 11 years that Garvey was their frontman, they saw chart-topping success in Europe, with a number of gold and platinum selling albums, Tuesday, Dream No. 7, Beautiful Sky, Wish and Eleven and several sold out European tours. In 2010, after the release of the band's best-of album/DVD "Eleven", and a best-of tour, the band parted ways. Garvey took this time to pursue a solo career, which gave birth to his first solo album "Can't Stand the Silence" in 2011. This album saw Garvey's transition from anthem rock with Reamonn, to alternative electro pop.
At the same time, he placed an ad in the newspaper looking for people to join him in a band. Together with drummer Mike Gommeringer, keyboardist and saxophonist Sebastian Padotzke, guitarist Uwe Bossert and bassist Philipp Rauenbusch, he founded the band Reamonn in November of the same year. The band's name is derived from the Irish version of Garvey's first name, Réamonn. In June 1999, the band signed its first record deal.
In March 2000, the band Reamonn released their first single: "Supergirl" reached number four in the charts in Germany and Austria. In Switzerland, the song also made it into the top ten. The debut album Tuesday followed two months later. It reached number five on the German album charts. This is followed by over 200 sold-out concerts and two further albums (Dream No. 7, 2001 and Beautiful Sky, 2003), which achieved gold and platinum status.
Garvey first showed his fascination with electronic music in 2001, on the title track "Be Angeled" for the movie Loveparade. This was the first of many collaborations with the DJ team Jam and Spoon. The song was performed for the first time in memory of Mark Spoon at the start of the Love Parade in July 2006. In 2007, Rea appeared on a track titled "Let Go" for Paul van Dyk's album In Between. Rea has also worked on a solo collaboration with Xavier Naidoo, with whom he recorded Falco's song "Jeanny" in 2002 and "My Child" for his solo debut album Can't Stand the Silence in 2011. The latter was a multi-platinum success, following the break-up with his former band Reamonn in early 2011. Garvey has also been featured as one of the four coaches on the German version of The Voice, The Voice of Germany for season 1-2, 4-5, 9-10, 12, and 15. The winner of the second season was British singer-songwriter Nick Howard, who was on Garvey's team.
In 2005, Garvey together with Xavier Naidoo, Sascha Schmitz and comedian Michael Mittermeier, paid tribute to the Rat Pack in a live performance called Alive & Swingin', in aid of Garvey's charity organisation, Saving an Angel. Due to its success, the four took to the stage again, in early 2011, to a sold-out tour. As the demand for the German Rat Pack grew, the four continued to tour in 2012 and, with their big band, were set to take another encore in 2014.
Garvey won the 2021 edition of the Free European Song Contest, a spin-off of the Eurovision Song Contest created by the German TV Channel ProSieben to have a version of the original contest when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. He represented Ireland with his song 'The One' placing first with 116 points out of 16 songs.
| + List of albums, with selected chart positions and certifications ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;" | Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;" | Album details ! scope="col" colspan="3" | Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;" | Certifications |
| 2008 | "Hallelujah" | — | Barfuss soundtrack | |
| 2011 | "Can't Stand the Silence" | — | | align="left" rowspan="3" Can't Stand the Silence | |
| 2012 | "Colour Me In" | 46 | ||
| "Heart of an Enemy" | — | |||
| "Wild Love" | 60 | |align="left" Can't Stand the Silence — The Encore | ||
| 2014 | "Can't Say No" | 49 | Pride | |
| "Oh My Love" (featuring Amy Macdonald) | 42 | |||
| 2015 | "It's a Good Life" | 40 | ||
| "War" | — | Prisma | ||
| "Armour" | — | |||
| "Stronger Than Ever" (MarieMarie & Rea Garvey) | — | |||
| "Fire" | — | Prisma | ||
| 2018 | "Is It Love?" (featuring Kool Savas) | 12 | | align="left" rowspan="5" Neon | |
| "Hometown" | 94 | |||
| "Beautiful Life" | — | |||
| "Kiss Me" | 39 | |||
| 2019 | "Let's Be Lovers Tonight" | — | ||
| 2020 | "Talk to Your Body" | — | Hy Brasil | |
| "Hey Hey Hey" | — | |||
| "The One" (featuring Vize) | — | |||
| 2021 | "Rose" | — | rowspan="3" | |
| "Love Makes You Shine" (with YouNotUs & Kush Kush) | — | |||
| 2022 | "Best Bad Friend" (with Michael Patrick Kelly) | — | ||
| 2023 | "Free Like the Ocean" | — | Halo | |
| "Perfect in My Eyes" | — | |||
| 2024 | "Somewhere Close to Heaven" (with Picture This) | — | ||
| "Halo" | — |
| 2001 | "Be Angeled" (Jam & Spoon featuring Rea Garvey) | 53 | be.angeled soundtrack | |
| 2004 | "Set Me Free (Empty Rooms)" (Jam & Spoon featuring Rea Garvey) | — | Tripomatic Fairtales 3003 | |
| 2006 | "Liam" (In Extremo featuring Rea Garvey) | — | Mein rasend Herz | |
| "All Good Things (Come to an End)" (Nelly Furtado featuring Rea Garvey) | 1 | | align="left" Loose | ||
| 2007 | "Let Go" (Paul van Dyk featuring Rea Garvey) | — | In Between | |
| 2010 | "Each Tear" (Mary J. Blige featuring Rea Garvey) | — | Stronger with Each Tear | |
| 2011 | "Heroes" (with Nena, Xavier Naidoo & The BossHoss) | — | Die Highlights |
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