Dave Mason, solo artist, a founding member of the band Traffic, writer of the classic rock songs “Feelin’ Alright” and “Hole in My Shoe” and sideman to the Rolling Stones, George Harrison and Jimi Hendrix, has died, according to an announcement from his publicist. He was 79.
Mason was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the other original members of Traffic in 2004. In the 1970s he enjoyed solo hits with “Only You Know and I Know” and “We Just Disagree,” and over the years he also performed or recorded with David Crosby, Graham Nash, Michael Jackson, Cass Elliot, Leon Russell and others.
A fiery guitarist and strong songwriter and singer, Mason first rose to prominence as a member of Traffic, the psychedelic-era band fronted by Steve Winwood. While he wrote some of the band’s biggest hits — notably “Hole in My Shoe” (which reached No. 2 on the British singles charts and was later covered in a novelty version by the comedy troupe the Young Ones) and the song “Feelin’ Alright,” later definitively covered by Joe Cocker — he had an on-off relationship with the band, although he contributed heavily to their first two albums, 1967’s psychedelic classic “Mr. Fantasy,” and the self-titled sophomore effort.
Born in 1946 in Worcester, England, Mason was a professional musician by his teens and released his first music as a member of the instrumental combo the Jaguars with the 1963 single “Opus to Spring.” In that band he first met future Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi, and the two later joined the Hellions, which released several singles. In early 1966, he became road manager for the Spencer Davis Group, which featured a teenaged and precociously talented Winwood and enjoyed hits with “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man.”
In March of 1967, Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group and formed Traffic with Mason, Capaldi, and flautist Chris Wood. While Mason’s relationship with the group was tenuous — he left and returned at least twice — Traffic was a major influence on multiple artists during the psychedelic era, and Mason contributed not only sparkling guitar playing and several of the group’s best known songs but also sitar (on the band’s classic debut single, “Paper Sun”) and other then-unconventional instruments. The flagship artist of late-1960s Island Records, Traffic were the first group among many to “get it together in the country,” workshopping their first album in a cottage in the hills of Berkshire in 1967. Traffic’s version of “Feelin’ Alright” was not a hit, but it was the rousing opening song of Joe Cocker’s landmark 1969 debut, “With a Little Help From My Friends.”
Mason left Traffic in 1968 and worked as a sort of hired gun to the stars, playing on the Rolling Stones’ “Beggars Banquet” album (as that band coped with the dissolution of founding guitarist Brian Jones) and Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland” (that’s him playing 12-string acoustic on “All Along the Watchtower” and singing background on “Crosstown Traffic”). In late 1969 he joined the sprawling touring band of American duo Delaney & Bonnie’s, which also saw Eric Clapton and George Harrison guesting on multiple U.K. and European dates. This association led to him contributing to several tracks on Harrison’s classic “All Things Must Pass” album, and in mid-1970 he was briefly a member of Eric Clapton’s group Derek & the Dominos, but had left by the time the band recorded its epochal debut, “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.”
Mason instead followed his own muse and released multiple solo albums, including one with former Mamas & the Papas singer Cass Elliot, into the 1970s and ’80s. His 1974 self-titled album (although it was actually his fifth studio effort) went gold in the U.S.; he enjoyed his biggest solo hit, a cover of Jim Krueger’s composition “We Just Disagree” and the album “Let It Flow” in 1977, although further chart success did not follow.
The most curious turn in his career came in the 1990s when he briefly became a member of Fleetwood Mac, appearing on the 1995 album “Time” and on tour along with Bekka Bramlett — the daughter of his earlier collaborators Delaney & Bonnie — during a period when Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had left the group. The revised lineup found disfavor among many Fleetwood Mac fans, and Buckingham and Nicks rejoined for a reunion of the “classic” lineup two years later.
Mason’s health issues became known in 2024 when he canceled his tour for the following year, citing unspecified challenges.
Mason is survived by his wife, Winifred Wilson, and his daughter, Danielle. He was preceded in death by his son, True, and his sister, Valerie Leonard.
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