Dave Mason

Born on May 10, 1945,

Dave Mason is primarily known for his work in the band Traffic. His relation to Fleetwood Mac can be traced back to the early mid-1960s, when he was a roadie for the Spencer Davis Group, which featured Stevie Winwood. (Christine (Perfect) McVie was at one time Spencer Davis's girlfriend, and a Spencer Davis groupie.) While still in Art College, Christine was in a band called Shades of Blue, which also featured Stan Webb, Andy Sylvester, and a sax player named Chris Wood. Mason was also in a band that opened for the Spencer Davis group. The drummer of the group was Jim Capaldi. After an American tour, Capaldi and Mason joined forces with Winwood and Wood to form Traffic.

Upon leaving Traffic several years later, Mason joined Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. After opening for Blind Faith (which featured Winwood and Eric Clapton), Clapton joined Delaney and Bonnie. After a few months and Clapton's solo album, Eric and Dave stole the Delaney and Bonnie rhythm section and piano player to form Derek and the Dominoes. Dave left shortly thereafter, and signed to Blue Thumb. His first solo album was entitled Alone Together. He followed up with a duet album with (Mama) Cass Elliot. Dave then did a short stint with Traffic, and started working on another album.

Dave's career at Columbia was rather stormy. He enjoyed only one major hit, and after seven years and seven albums, he called it quits with the Columbia record label. Oddly enough, while his record sales were extremely low, he was still selling out Madison Square Garden and other huge venues. In the eighties, Dave did beer ads for Miller as well as acoustic tours with Jim Krueger (the writer of his hit single "We Just Disagree.") Dave later stopped touring altogether and went into seclusion at his friend's guesthouse-- that friend was Mick Fleetwood.

In 1987, Dave went back into the studio and recorded Some Assembly Required and Two Hearts. The latter featured Steve Winwood and Phoebe Snow. Although not a classic, this album put Dave back in business. He continued to tour through 1993, before he joined Fleetwood Mac. Dave did a brief solo tour to bid farewell to his solo career; since then he has toured with Fleetwood Mac for the summers of 1994 and 1995, and contributed to their release, Time. He has since left the band and does occasional shows on his own.

From left to right: John McVie, Dave Mason, Bekka Bramlett, Mick Fleetwood (August 5, 1994).

See History Comparisons between Dave Mason and Fleetwood Mac.