Roger Allen Cotton (1946 – 1 June 2016) was an English musician, singer, songwriter, producer and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

. He played keyboards and guitar. Cotton first played in his father's band at the age of 13. He was a member of the

Peter Green Splinter Group The Peter Green Splinter Group were a blues band formed in 1996, fronted by guitarist and singer Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green was the leader of Fleetwood Mac until 1970. He suffered a mental breakdown during the 1970s and was rehab ...

, The Clockwork Orange, The Bandwagon, and The Brothers Grim where he met longtime collaborator

Alan Glen Alan Glen (born 21 December 1951) is a British blues harmonica player, best known for his work with The Yardbirds, Nine Below Zero, Little Axe, and his own bands, The Barcodes and The Incredible Blues Puppies. Career Glen started playing h ...

. At the time of his death, Cotton was the keyboard player in the

Buddy Whittington Buddy Whittington (born December 28, 1956) is an American guitarist. He began playing the guitar inspired by his sister's records of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. At the age of 14 he was alr ...

Band.

Biography

Cotton was born in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, London, England. Cotton, when a member of

, wrote some of the band's songs, including "Big Change" and "Real World". He played keyboard and guitar with

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers were an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall. The band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands t ...

, Paul Jones,

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

, Papa George Blues Band, Soul Survivor, The Paul Cox Band, and with Buddy Whittington. He has also written and recorded with

Eric Bibb Eric Charles Bibb (born August 16, 1951) is a Grammy-nominated American-born blues singer and songwriter. Early life and education Bibb was born in New York on August 16, 1951. His father, Leon, was a musical theatre singer, who made a name f ...

, Dr. Feelgood, The Barcodes, Incredible Blues Puppies,

Downliners Sect Downliners Sect are an English R&B and blues-based rock band, formed in the 1960s beat boom era. Stylistically, they were similar to blues-based bands such as The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things and the Rolling Stones, playing basic R&B on their ...

, Sonny Black and Derek Nash. He also made various appearances on television in the United States, Europe and Japan. He was the owner of Roundel Studios in Horton Kirby, Kent, where many musicians have recorded. The studio closed after his death. In November 2008, after producing and engineering hundreds of albums for other musicians, Cotton released his first album, ''A Long Way Back'', under his own name, featuring many of the musicians he had worked with including Derek Nash, Marcus Malone,

Gary Barnacle Gary Barnacle (born 1959) is an English saxophonist, flautist, brass instrument arranger, composer, and producer. Barnacle is primarily noted for his session work and live work, including various Prince's Trust concerts at Wembley Arena, th ...

, Papa George, Buddy Whittington, Paul Cox and Val Cowell. This is now available to stream on Spotify. He died in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England in June 2016, from a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

. His funeral took place on 28 June at Eltham Crematorium, Crown Wood Way, London.

References

External links

Roundel Studio (archive version – domain no longer active)

Note Records

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8LHwOLbQJI https://snappermusic.com/ 1945 births 2016 deaths People from Bromley Organ blues musicians British blues pianists English record producers English audio engineers Peter Green Splinter Group members {{UK-pianist-stub