Bermuda educated Deric Dyer has gone from MSA's school band to working for Tina Tuner and Joe Cocker and returns for the City Music and Jazz FestivalBy Jessie MonizBeing late to an audition with pop star Tina Turner is probably the stuff that musicians’ nightmares are made of.It happened to saxophonist Deric Dyer.Ms Turner didn’t even want to let Mr Dyer audition after he was held up at the airport, and accidentally made the diva wait.Her staff convinced her to let him have a go.What followed was a tense but high-energy audition in which she put him through his paces. In the end she was blown away by his talent. She asked him what his sign was, and it turned out they were both Sagittarius with birthdays two days apart. It sealed the deal, and Mr Dyer was hired. He toured with Ms Turner for some time.Playing with Tina Turner was just one of the many interesting moments in Mr Dyer’s career. He lives in Boston, but is Bermuda educated and will be performing in the City Hall Music and Jazz Festival Showcase this month.“My parents were English,” said Mr Dyer in a telephone interview with The Royal Gazette. “We moved to Bermuda when I was 11. That was in 1967. I went to Dellwood, but my father was teaching at Mount St Agnes for the music programme. I had a clarinet. Dellwood had four or five clarinets, but I had no one to play with. Sister Joseph Anthony said ‘Bring him over here and we will have him play here’. That was my first music experience, playing in the MSA school band.”Sister Joseph encouraged him to graduate from clarinet to the tenor saxophone.“That was the instrument where the switch went on,” said Mr Dyer, now 56. “My career has been kind of crazy looking back at it. I never looked at it as being on a definite road. My attitude was always ‘okay, I like this and I want to be a bit better’.”Playing at City Hall will take him back almost to where he started. His career began at Club Nine, once located across the street from City Hall on Church Street. He played there in a band called The All Together, with Barry Fitzsimmons.His talent was spotted when the American Standard Band came to Bermuda in 1975 during college weeks. They asked him to join their band in Boston. After giving it some thought he took up the opportunity.Mr Dyer ended up playing in a number of bands including Fahrenheit and also played with music legend Joe Cocker for many years. He has three grown children, Christopher, Tiffany and Tara. Three weeks ago he released his fifth album, ‘Renaissance Man’, which is available on iTunes, and CDbaby.com. He plans to play some music from his new CD during his City Hall performance.“So far the CD is doing well,” he said. “I decided to record some new material for this one, but it also has some old favourites. It is a compilation. It really covers a wide variety of different styles of music, from rock and roll to Broadway. It is a nice mix.”His advice to young Bermudians considering music as a career was “practise, practise, practise”.“When I moved to the United States I couldn’t believe how good everyone was,” he said. “There were so many really talented people. It was incredible. In order to compete, you have to work really hard. I practise a lot when I have a specific project in front of me. You want to be as prepared as you can be, so you can live up to what people are expecting.”Mr Dyer said he knew life had its ups and downs and variables, but a music student should be practising at least for 30 minutes every day, if not longer.The City Hall Music and Jazz Festival Showcase will be held on November 11. It is a double event at City Hall with shows from 6pm to 8pm and 9pm to 11pm. Prestege, The Kennel Boys, Canjelae Taylor, Sia Spence, CMJF Band with Deric Dyer & Joy T Barnum will play in the first show. In the second, performers will be McCartney Darrell, Chandra Maybury, Steve Easton, Lloyd Holder and The Band, CMJF Band with Deric Dyer, Latosha Codrington, Stevie Darrell and Sheila SmithTickets are available at City Hall for $30 per show, $50 for both shows or $75 for reserved seating at both shows and a complimentary cocktail reception between shows. For a complete talent line-up see www.cityofhamilton.bm .