A leading light of the 1960s Sheffield rock music scene, Dave Hawley, has died after a long illness aged 63. He never had the drive or ambition that took his close associates Dave Berry and Joe Cocker to stardom, but he was no less a talent. An outstanding guitarist in the country vein, he started off in an under-age band playing working men's clubs. He was a member of Sheffield bands the Hillbilly Cats, Scott William Combo and the Cargills, who were years ahead of their time in their fusion of rock, country and blues.

Joining the Whirlwinds, he met his future wife Lynne, who sang with the band, but when the others wanted to be more commercial, he left to form the Dave Hawley Combo, playing down-the-line rockabilly. "I stuck rigidly to what I wanted to do," he told John Firminger in his book about Sheffield bands, Not Like a Proper Job. In 1968 he answered an advert in the NME and left Sheffield for London and the Lorne Gibson Trio. "I got on the milk train at 9pm," he later recalled. "It delivered about 4m bottles of milk and got into London at five in the morning. Went to Putney and the same night we were off to play an American base." On ￡12 a night, he stayed with Gibson for a year, appearing on BBC Radio's Country Meets Folk and touring Germany, Malta and the Middle East.

Soon, Sheffield, and a wife and young child, called him back. He continued to play part time, doing a Christmas show on Radio Sheffield with his wife, while working in the steelworks. Hawley was one of a hardcore of Sheffield music pioneers of the late 50s and early 60s. He was a great influence on his son Richard and in his later years took satisfaction from his success as a guitarist, touring with Pulp and on his four solo albums. Dave leaves a partner, Freda, and three children.