{"id":1895631,"date":"2026-04-22T03:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895631"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:19:59","slug":"dave-mason-traffic-co-founder-dies-at-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895631","title":{"rendered":"Dave Mason, Traffic Co-Founder, Dies at 79"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tDave Mason, the celebrated singer, songwriter and musician who was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a co-founder of Traffic, died Sunday (April 19) at the age of 79.<\/p>\n
See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\u201cOn behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason,\u201d reads a statement from his publicists. <\/p>\n
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\n\tAccording to reps, Mason passed away peacefully at his home in Gardnerville, NV. Mason, the message continues, \u201clived a remarkable life devoted to the music and the people he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBorn in post-war England, in 1946, Mason rose to prominence with the blues-rock band Traffic, for which he contributed writing credits and lead vocals for such tracks such as \u201cHole in My Shoe\u201d and \u201cFeelin Alright?,\u201d which would be recorded by dozens of artists, including the Joe Cocker, the Jackson 5, and John Belushi.<\/p>\n
\n\tMason also enjoyed an impressive solo career, which got underway in 1970 with his debut solo album, Alone Together<\/em>, which peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, and featured the Billboard Hot 100 hit \u201cOnly You Know and I Know.\u201d Let If Flow<\/em> from 1977 was a platinum smash, yielding the single \u201cWe Just Disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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\n\tAs a collaborator, Mason was a wanted man. Across the years, he recorded or performed with the likes of George Harrison, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson and others. His guitar work can be heard on Hendrix\u2019s \u201cAll Along the Watchtower,\u201d on the Stones\u2019 \u201cStreet Fighting Man,\u201d McCartney\u2019s \u201cListen To What The Man Said\u201d and on fellow Beatle Harrison\u2019s own collection All Things Must Pass<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n
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\n\tTraffic finally broke up in 1974 after releasing 11 albums, four of which landed cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200. While active, four Traffic singles crashed the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The rockers reunited two decades later to tour in 1993-94, while Mason hit the road with Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi in 1998.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn 2004, Mason was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member Traffic, in a class that included Prince, ZZ Top, Jackson Browne, and Bob Seger. Bandmates Capaldi and\u00a0Steve Winwood performed \u201cDear Mr. Fantasy\u201d at the ceremony. The following year, Capaldi died after a brief battle with stomach cancer, aged 60.<\/p>\n
\n\tMason returned to the Rock Hall in 2009 for an official VIP induction pre-party at the pillar\u2019s museum, where he played an acoustic set that included \u201cDear Mr. Fantasy\u201d and his rendition of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cAll Along the Watchtower.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHis most recent solo album release, A Shade of Blue<\/em>, dropped in 2025. However, Mason recently called time on touring after 60 years, citing ongoing health challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHe is survived by his beloved wife and partner, Winifred Wilson, his daughter Danielle, nephew John (Trish) Leonard and niece Michelle Leonard, as well as his brothers in law Sloan (Claudia) Wilson and Walton (Barbara Sims) Wilson. He was preceded in death by his son, True and his sister, Valerie Leonard.<\/p>\n\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dave-mason-1800-cr-chris-jensen.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Dave Mason, the celebrated singer, songwriter and musician who was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a co-founder of Traffic, died Sunday (April 19) at the age of 79. Explore Traffic See latest videos, charts and news \u201cOn behalf of his family, it is with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1895631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1895631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1895631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1895631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1895631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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