Roger Arnold 'Deke' Leonard was born on 18 December 1944 in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire. He became the guitarist, singer and unofficial chronicler of Man, the sprawling, hard-touring Welsh progressive rock band he joined and rejoined across several separate stints from the late 1960s onward, helping to shape its loose, jam-driven sound.
Between his spells with Man, Leonard fronted his own band, Iceberg, and became a genuinely prolific author, writing sharp, self-deprecating memoirs of life in a working rock band that never quite broke through to the mainstream. His books include Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics: The Legend of Man, Maybe I Should've Stayed in Bed?, The Twang Dynasty — From Memphis to Merthyr, Guitarists That Rocked the World, and Maximum Darkness: Man on the Road to Nowhere.
Deke Leonard died on 31 January 2017 at the age of 72, from heart failure, having recently returned to live in his hometown of Llanelli. He is remembered as one of the defining figures of Welsh rock's cult scene, both for his guitar playing and for the wit with which he documented it.