David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Career Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in 1968, where he received his first album credit on the album Another Round. By 1969, Johnstone had secured regular work as a session musician, where he began to branch out and explore differing genres of music, and experiment with a variety of instruments. In 1970, when Lyell Tranter (one of the two guitarists in the acoustic British folk group Magna Carta) left the band, Johnstone took his place as a member. He recorded several albums with them beginning in 1970 on Seasons (1970), and continued to contribute to Songs from Wasties Orchard (1971) (named after the street where he lived in Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire), and a live album entitled In Concert. During his stint with Magna Carta, Johnstone played a wide variety of instruments including guitar, mandolin, sitar, and dulcimer. He also caught producer Gus Dudgeon's attention during this time – Dudgeon asking Johnstone to play on Bernie Taupin's eponymous 1971 solo album, which resulted in a meeting with Elton John, and ultimately, Johnstone's playing on John's 1971 album Madman Across the Water, after which he was invited to join Elton John's band as a full member. Previously, the Elton John Band consisted of John himself, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson. Johnstone's debut album with Elton John as a full-time member of his band was Honky Chateau, on which he played electric and acoustic guitars, slide guitar, banjo, and mandolin, and also sang backing vocals alongside Murray and Olsson. In 1972 he worked with Joan Armatrading and Pam Nestor on their Gus Dudgeon-produced debut album Whatever's for Us, playing acoustic and electric guitar on several tracks, and sitar on the song "Visionary Mountains". Johnstone released a solo album, Smiling Face, in 1973 through The Rocket Record Company and created a short-lived band called China that released an eponymous album in 1977. Even while playing alongside other artists such as Stevie Nicks, Meat Loaf and Alice Cooper during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Johnstone was never very far from Elton's projects, and following his reunion with original bandmates Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray full-time for 1982's "Jump Up" tour, has rarely been absent from an Elton John