Dean Fertita

Dean Anthony Fertita (born September 6, 1970) is an American rock multi-instrumentalist.

He is best known as a keyboardist and occasional guitarist of the hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age, and as the guitarist and keyboardist for the Dead Weather.

Fertita was a member of the band Reigndance from 1989–97 and appeared briefly on the first season of MTV's The Real World.

Fertita was the lead singer and guitarist of the Waxwings from the band's formation in 1997 to its breakup in 2005.

Fertita then moved on to collaborate with Brendan Benson, playing keyboards and guitar on Benson's solo releases and as a touring keyboard player for the Raconteurs.

In 1997 Fertita formed the power pop band The Waxwings along with bassist Kevin Peyok, drummer James Edmunds and guitarist Dominic Romano.

The band's name, as well as the name of their debut record, was derived from the first line of a poem in Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire: In 2000 The Waxwings signed with Bobsled Records and began work on their debut album, Low to the Ground, recorded at Terrarium Studios in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Bryan Hanna.

The albums was featured in Magnet Magazine's Top 20 albums of 2000–2001.

In 2002 the band released their second album Shadows Of... After the band's release party a letter surfaced, in which Bobslead Records head, Bob Salerno, ridiculed the band for what he considered to be a poor live performance.

The letter gained notoriety after being posted on the internet entertainment forum the Velvet Rope.

After the controversy with Salerno the band released their third album – recorded with Brendan Benson – Let's Make Our Descent on Rainbow Quartz Records in 2004.

After The Waxwings broke up in 2004, Fertita was recruited by Brendan Benson to play keyboard on Benson's two-man British acoustic tour Fertita and Benson first met each other via mutual friends in high school, and soon established a working relationship.

Fertita cites Benson as a big influence, inspiring him to focus more energy on song writing instead of loud riffs.

When Benson formed The Raconteurs Fertita was recruited to play keyboards and organ on the tour in support of the Broken Boy Soldiers album.

In 2005 the band stated on its official website that work had begun on songs for a fourth studio album.

Since then members of the band have been involved with other projects and no information regarding the band's status have been released.

In 2007, Fertita joined Queens of the Stone Age to replace the late Natasha Shneider on keyboards and occasionally guitar on some songs.

In 2007, Hutch asked Fertita to join the Queens of the Stone Age as their new keyboardist and additional guitarist, replacing the late Natasha Shneider.

Fertita accepted and along with newly recruited bassist Michael Shuman recorded later bonus tracks.

Era Vulgaris was released on June 12, 2007 and was followed by the Duluth Tour, which was named due to the fact that the band was scheduled to perform in many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota.

Fertita also recorded clavinet parts for the band's second studio album Consolers of the Lonely in 2008.

Benson also produced and made several contributions to Fertita's debut solo album.

During the tour with the Raconteurs, Fertita got to know the band's sound man Hutch, who is also the long time sound man of Queens of the Stone Age.

On August 16, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles.

They were joined on stage by Alain Johannes, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs.

Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha’s illness.

Fertita has released two solo albums to date, with his first being released under the name Hello=Fire in 2009, and his second under the name Tropical Gothclub in 2022.

In 2009 the members of the band took time off and were involved in a variety of other projects, but reconvened in the summer of 2010 to play a number of shows in support of a reissue of Rated R which was released on August 3.

In 2009 Fertita along with Jack White on drums, Alison Mosshart on lead vocals, and Jack Lawrence on bass formed The Dead Weather.

The group originally only intended to record a 7-inch single but plans changed and the band wrote and recorded their debut album in fifteen days.

The band's debut album – Horehound – was released July 14, 2009 and was followed by a supporting tour.

In October 2009 lead vocalist Mosshart confirmed that a second album was "halfway done".

Later, White revealed in an interview that the band is hoping to have 20 to 25 songs ready for their Australian tour in March 2010.

It was later confirmed that the first single from the new album – Sea of Cowards – would be called "Die by the Drop" which was released March 30.

They released a remastered version of their first self-titled album early 2011 which was supported with performances of the album in its entirety.

In 2013, Queens of the Stone Age released ...Like Clockwork, their first full album since Fertita joined the band.

On the album, Fertita plays piano, guitar, slide guitar, synthesizers, clavinet and provides background vocals.

The album was the first Queens album to reach number one on the Billboard 200.

It also reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album.

In 2015, Fertita collaborated with his Queens of the Stone Age bandmate Josh Homme in recording Iggy Pop's studio album, Post Pop Depression (2016), and in 2019 he joined the Raconteurs as a sideman in support of their third studio album, Help Us Stranger.