Dave Lea's remarkable contribution to the success of the Jaguar Land Rover Band is recognised with his appointment as Life President. After 30 years of service as the band's Musical Director, Dave is retired from full time banding but remains an integral part of the band acting as Musical Advisor.

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Having been born into a Salvationist family, Dave Lea was introduced to brass banding at the early age of five when he began to learn the cornet. Many years were spent in Salvation Army banding, culminating in a period of fifteen years as principal cornet of the Coventry City S.A. Band. During this period he attained a Diploma for Trumpet playing at the London College of Music and took an active interest in conducting brass and choral groups.

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In 1988 Dave was appointed Musical Director of the then Rolls-Royce (Coventry) Band, which following a sponsorship change in 2002, became the Jaguar Band (Coventry) Band, signalling a period of unprecedented success in the bands history, which has included many prestigious concert engagements, overseas tours, many successful competition results and recording contracts.

Some of the Dave's competition highlights include being awarded the runners up prize at the fiercely contested Grand Shield Contest in both May 1999 and May 2016 thus qualifying for the British Open contest held at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Also, leading the band to achieve the runners-up prize in both the Pontins and Senior Cup competitions.

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Dave has also directed the band to compete at the National Brass Band Finals of Great Britain held at the Albert Hall in London in 2006 and 2012 as the Midland Area runners up. Dave was only to wait until the following year to see the Jaguar Land Rover Band crowned Midland Area Champions of 2013 for the first time in the bands history and again in that year conduct the band in the National Finals of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall.

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In 2011, Dave became the first recipient of the Peter Parkes Memorial Trophy, awarded to the winning conductor for the band's first prize at the Bolsover Entertainment Contest. and in 2016 Dave was awarded the prestigious Masters Service Award for services to brass bands. 

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