Roger Dean (guitarist)

David Roger Bryan Dean (16 March 1943 – 3 August 2008) was a British guitar player and teacher. He took piano lessons at the age of 7, moving on to guitar at 10. He then had musical training at the Eric Gilder School in London with teacher Ivor Mairants. His professional career ran over 40 years until he retired following a car crash in 2004. During the 1960s he played in a number of bands that left few traces in the history of popular music. The notable exception occurred when he briefly joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Dean's guitar is heard on Mayall's first album, "John Mayall Plays John Mayall", and first single. Leaving Mayall, he worked with his former band the Nu Notes. In 1971, he played with a band called Spike Island and recorded an album with them, a mixture of folk, country and world music. Later, as a member of various other bands like The Bluejays, P. P. Arnold's backing band and The Bad Boys, he recorded on some hits, but gradually turned to more anonymous work as a session musician playing for TV shows, backing stars and other lucrative jobs, such as cruises on the QE2 as guitarist with the Joe Loss Orchestra. In 1978, Dean became the first Western musician allowed to play electric guitar in China. From 1992 he held teaching posts at various British schools. After a serious illness, Dean died in 2008.