Dave Mason, co-founder of Traffic and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who sang “Feelin’ Alright” and “We Just Disagree,” dies at age 79

Dave Mason, solo artist, founding member of the band Traffic, author of the classic rock songs “Feelin’ Alright” and “Hole in My Shoe,” and sideman for the Rolling Stones, George Harrison and Jimi Hendrix, has died, his publicist announced. The cause of death has not been announced, but he was forced to cancel a tour last year due to poor health. He was 79 years old.

Mason was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 along with the other original members of Traffic. He had solo hits in the 1970s with “Only You Know and I Know” and “We Just Disagree,” and over the years performed and recorded with David Crosby, Graham Nash, Michael Jackson, Cass Elliott, Leon Russell, and others.

A fiery guitarist and powerhouse songwriter and singer, Mason first rose to prominence as a member of Steve Winwood’s psychedelic-era band Traffic. He recorded some of the band’s biggest hits, particularly “Hole in My Shoe” (which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and was later covered in a novelty version by comedy outfit The Young Ones), and later by Joe Cocker. While writing songs such as the definitive cover song “Feelin’ Alright,” he had an on-and-off relationship with the band, contributing significantly to their first two albums, 1967’s psychedelic classic “Mr. Martin.” Fantasy”, and his second self-titled work.

Born in Worcester, England in 1946, Mason became a professional musician as a teenager, releasing his first music as a member of the instrumental combo Jaguars with the 1963 single “Opus to Spring”. It was in that band that he first met future Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi, and the two later joined the Hellions and released several singles. In early 1966, he became road manager for the Spencer Davis Group. The group included precocious teenage talent Winwood, who enjoyed hits such as “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “I’m a Man.”

In March 1967, Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group and formed Traffic with Mason, Capaldi, and flautist Chris Wood. Although Mason’s relationship with the group was tenuous, and he left and returned at least twice, Traffic was a major influence on several artists of the psychedelic era, with Mason contributing not only his brilliant guitar playing and some of the group’s most famous songs, but also the sitar (which appeared on the band’s classic debut single, “Paper Sun”) and other unconventional instruments of the time. Traffic, Island Records’ flagship artists in the late 1960s, were the first of many groups to “band together in the country,” workshopping their first album in a cottage in the Berkshire hills in 1967. Traffic’s version of “Feelin’ Alright” was not a hit, but it became the rapturous opening song for Joe Cocker’s groundbreaking 1969 debut, “With a Little Help from My Friends.”

Mason left Traffic in 1968 and served as a hired gun to the stars on the Rolling Stones’ album Beggar’s Banquet (as the band dealt with the breakup of founding guitarist Brian Jones) and Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland (he played 12-string acoustic on All Along the Watchtower and sang background on Crosstown Traffic). In late 1969, he joined the extensive touring band of the American duo Delaney & the Bonnies, with Eric Clapton and George Harrison also making guest appearances on several dates in the UK and Europe. This connection led to him appearing on several songs on Harrison’s classic album All Things Must Pass, and he briefly became a member of Eric Clapton’s group Derek and the Dominos in the mid-1970s, but he had left by the time the band recorded their breakthrough debut, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.

Instead, Mason followed his muse and released several solo albums in the 1970s and ’80s, including one with former Mamas and the Papas singer Cass Elliott. His 1974 self-titled album (actually his fifth studio effort) went gold in the United States. He enjoyed his biggest solo hit in 1977 with a cover of the Jim Krueger composition “We Just Disagree” and the album “Let It Flow”, but no further chart success followed.

The most interesting turning point in his career came in the 1990s, when he briefly became a member of Fleetwood Mac, appearing on their 1995 album Time and touring with former collaborator Becca Bramlett, daughter of Delaney and Bonnie, at a time when Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had left the group. The revised lineup was unpopular with many Fleetwood Mac fans, and Buckingham and Nicks rejoined two years later for a reunion of the “classic” lineup.

Mason’s health issues became apparent in 2024, and he canceled the following year’s tour, citing an unspecified illness.

Mason is survived by his wife, Winifred Wilson, and his daughter, Danielle. He was predeceased by a son, True, and a sister, Valerie Leonard.