Dave Mason, founding member of Traffic and acclaimed solo performer, has died at the age of 79. The news was confirmed in a post on his social media pages.
The statement reads: "It is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason. On Sunday, April 19, after cooking an amazing dinner with his beloved wife Winifred, he sat down to take a nap with sweet Star (the Maltese) at his feet. He passed away peacefully, in his favourite chair, surrounded by the beautiful Carson Valley that he loved so much. A storybook ending. On his own terms. Which is how he lived his life right up until the end.
"He leaves a lasting imprint on the soundtrack of our lives and the hearts he has lifted. His legacy will be cherished forever."
Mason was born in Worcester, England, in 1946. He began his career with Traffic in 1967 when Steve Winwood – having made his name as a teenage prodigy with the Spencer Davis Group – jumped ship to work with Mason, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood, three musicians he'd encountered during after-hours jam sessions at the Elbow Room, a bohemian club in Birmingham.
Mason wrote the band's first hit, the psychedelic classic Hole In My Shoe, but left the group shortly after the release of their first album, only to return months later with the song that would become the follow-up smash, Feelin’ Alright. He left the band for a second time shortly after.
"With the second album, all my stuff was picked out as singles, and that became the straw that broke the camel’s back," Mason told Classic Rock in 2019. "Steve later gave a quote that I was nothing more in the band than an uninvited guest. See, I always looked at Traffic as it being our differences that together made us great, but it just wasn’t going to go that way. The three of them made it pretty clear that I didn’t fit anymore in a band that I had started."
In the meantime, Mason was getting busy with other artists. He introduced Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower and played on the version recorded for Electric Ladyland. He also played the shehnai, an Indian oboe, on the Stones' track Street Fighting Man, and contributed to George Harrison’s sprawling post-Beatles triple set All Things Must Pass. He also toured with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and joined Eric Clapton's Derek And The Dominos for a single London show.
From 1970, Mason concentrated on his solo career – apart from a typically brief stint back in Traffic in 1971 – and released more than a dozen albums between 1970 and 2023, working with the likes of Mama Cass (on 1971's Dave Mason & Cass Elliot collaborative album), Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson (on 1980's Save Me single), David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Phoebe Snow.
Between 1993 and 1995, Mason also replaced Lindsey Buckingham in a version of Fleetwood Mac he referred to as "a covers band."
"It was an interesting experience, but also very convoluted because there were three different managers, so it took forever to get anything done," he told Classic Rock. "We did that album [1995’s Time] that nobody even knows about, and Warner Brothers certainly didn’t promote; there were a couple of tours of Europe and the US, and that was the end of that. It wasn’t one of the most productive times."
More productive times followed as he returned to the road under his own name, ramping up the touring activity and performing more in the last decade of his life than he had as a young man.
In September 2024, Mason was obliged to abandon the last 11 shows of a US tour after doctors identified a serious heart condition during a routine appointment. “I’m heartbroken to have to cancel these dates, but it’s Doctor’s orders," he said. "I’ll be back, and better than ever, in 2025."
The following year, he announced his retirement. He never returned to the stage.
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