My friend Rupert Webster’s first public appearance was aged 12 as the beautiful, shy blond boy in Lindsay Anderson’s 1968 film If, a biting satire on how public school can breed dangerous men. In fact, Rupert, who has died aged 65, of cellulitis and heart disease, was the gentlest and kindest of men.
He was the son of the hard-working and successful actor Heather Chasen, and John Webster, a civil servant. Born in London, and educated at Holland Park comprehensive school, Rupert showed an early talent for art (and he was later to study fine art at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford). He might have become an artist had not the guitar made an explosive appearance in his life when he was 15. He became proficient very quickly, and that year began playing in rock bands with friends.
In 1977, he travelled to Boston to study for a year at Massachusetts College of Art and Design as part of his degree. There he met Tina Weyman, whom he married in London later that year. They returned to live in Boston, where Rupert worked as a manager for a fast food outlet in Faneuil Hall, at the same time becoming well known on the Boston scene as a charismatic and good-looking lead guitarist. He played with several successful Boston bands, including Siren and Willie Loco Alexander. His marriage to Tina ended in divorce and he returned to London in 1990.
His love for the guitar never diminished and over his life he assembled a significant collection, especially from the time he lived in Boston. He brought his guitars back from there in 1994, carrying three as hand luggage, and shipping 22 more, including several valuable Gibson Les Pauls and Firebirds.
In London, he formed the London Blues Band (later known as London Street Blues) with Chris Pressley and Nick Ephgrave, and he also played with Alastair Murray in the Fletchers, Wylie Coyote and Guitar Fever, as well as being a regular at many blues jam sessions including the Tune Inn in Acton. Living in south-west London, he also taught guitar to many young people, privately and through Kew Young Musicians classes, and encouraged them in playing and performance by staging an annual concert for his many students.
Throughout his life, Rupert suffered with debilitating episodes of bipolar illness, but had, intermittently, periods of happiness and stability, never more so than during the time when he met his partner, Charlotte, in 1996, and, in 1998, became a father to Emma. He was devoted to both of them, and all his family, who will miss him especially this Christmas and New Year, a time when he always led family singsongs, allowing them to enjoy with him many of the songs he loved so much.
He is survived by Charlotte and Emma.
