Dave Mason

David Thomas Mason (10 May 1946 – 19 April 2026) was an English musician who came to prominence in 1967 as a founding member of the rock band Traffic. He wrote and sang lead vocals on two of the band's best known songs, "Hole in My Shoe" and "Feelin' Alright?" His song "Only You Know and I Know" became a signature song for Delaney & Bonnie, and his 1977 solo hit, "We Just Disagree", has become a staple of U.S. classic hits and adult contemporary radio playlists.

After leaving Traffic, he pursued a solo career and recorded with artists that included Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and Wings, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Steve Winwood, Fleetwood Mac, Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell, and Cass Elliot.

In 2004, Mason started an electric guitar company with business partner and industrial designer Ravi Sawhney. That same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Traffic.

Mason was born in Worcester, England, on 10 May 1946, the youngest of two children of Edward Mason and Nora Wilson, who ran a sweet shop. He became infatuated with the electric guitar at an early age, becoming an avid follower of Hank Marvin, Buddy Guy and Elmore James. In his teens, he formed his own band, The Jaguars, which, with funding from his parents, recorded the 1963 single "Opus to Spring".

In 1964, Mason joined another Worcester band, The Hellions, which included drummer Jim Capaldi. In August of that year, the band was hired to back singer Tanya Day at the Star-Club in Hamburg, where they stayed at the same hotel as the Spencer Davis Group. Mason and Capaldi struck up a friendship with the Spencer Davis Group's keyboardist Steve Winwood. When The Hellions returned to England, they were a polished act and were in great demand, on their own and as a backing band for such singers as Adam Faith and Dave Berry. By the end of 1964, they had become the house band at London's Whisky-A-Go-Go Club.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.