Every once in a while, Ean Corbet needs to take a break from his duties in the accounting office at the San Diego County Fair.

He doesn't wander far, in terms of distance. He never leaves the fairgrounds, as a matter of fact. It's what he's doing that causes the occasional raised eyebrow from people expecting accountants to have less-than-exciting lives.

For when Corbet (pronounced kohr-BAY) drops his pencil and turns off his computer, he picks up an instrument of an entirely different sort -- a guitar. He then takes the stage to backup one of the fair's musical performers.

It's nothing new for Corbet, 56, who started playing in rock bands as a teenager and battled the odds for many years trying to make it as a full-time musician. Accounting is the Johnny-come-lately to his life.

"I realized I needed something more than music to pay the bills, mortgage, food … so I got into accounting," he said.

Not without a fight. The Irish-born Oceanside resident started playing the guitar at age 13 and "got hooked on it." After splitting his childhood between living in Africa with his parents and an English boarding school, he got involved with the London music scene, joining a band that sometimes rehearsed with members of Genesis.

He worked as a session musician with artists such as Big George Webley, Roxy Music and Elvis Costello and came close to landing a deal with EMI Records in the early 1980s, Corbet said.

He took various jobs, including some accounting, to supplement his music income until he met a girl on a 1990 trip to the United States that he ended up marrying.

"The marriage didn't work out, but I ended up staying," he said.

Corbet was always a fan of "West Coast music," and hoped the move would jump-start his musical career. He backed several musicians and did session work, but couldn't find the right combination to make music pay off.

He came closest with the formation of the band Simply Complex, which Corbet called the best group he ever played with. The band performed in Los Angeles and San Diego, opening for the B-52s, Natalie Merchant and the Indigo Girls, among others, but the magic wasn't quite there.

"We were better than anybody else, but we were past our sell-by date," Corbet said. "We weren't young. Rock and roll is a young person's game. We had the chops, but we were past our prime."

Along the way, he learned of a temporary job with the fairgrounds and was hired on in late 2001. He got a permanent job with the accounting office in April 2002, which he has enjoyed ever since.

"I love it here. It's the best job I've ever had," Corbet said. "I had a great musical career, I toured, but for a day job, a 9-to-5 job, it doesn't get any better than this."

During the fair, Corbet keeps up with daily receipts, ticket sales, concessions, parking fees and more, working eight to 10 hours a day, including weekends. He works around his musical gigs, which this year included appearances with singers Kathi Burg and Steven Ybarra, and a performance Wednesday with the Music Maniacs, a band of fairgrounds workers that he organized.

"I'm surprised how talented many of the employees at the fair are," he said.

After the fair closes, he deals with the fixed assets, depreciation and expenses for the fairgrounds and the 300 or so events that take place there each year.

Corbet has some fans among his fellow employees. Marianne Hoke, the fairgrounds' human resources manager, has seen him play with several musicians at the fair, at Humphrey's Shelter Island and other venues.

"I know (music) is his passion. To see him live his passion and combine it with his work is a wonderful opportunity," Hoke said, noting that she was quite surprised when she learned of her colleague's other talent. "I never would have known. Most accounting people are not that artistic to be able to go out and perform."

Corbet doesn't find accounting and music to be such an odd mix.

"Music is very mathematical if you think about it. Everything in music has a math base -- key signatures, notes, how fast, the intervals (between notes)," he said. "Of course, accounting is very mathematical. I think there's a connection between the left and right side of the brain. Accounting and music is an area where there can be that crossover."

Contact staff columnist Jeff Frank at 760-740-5419 or jfrank@nctimes.com.