Dave Mason, the British singer, songwriter, and guitarist who co-founded the rock band Visitors earlier than launching a solo profession, has died. His consultant confirmed the information on behalf of Mason’s household, saying he died peacefully at residence in Gardnerville, Nevada, on April 19. No trigger was given. Mason was 79 years outdated.
Born within the British county of Worcester, Mason discovered guitar taking part in alongside to Elmore James, Buddy Man, and George Benson data on the radio, earlier than co-founding Visitors in 1967. Fronted by singer and multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, the band made waves exterior of its hometown, scoring UK chart hits with “Paper Solar” and Mason’s personal “Gap in My Shoe.” Regardless of making his means out of and again into the Visitors lineup a number of occasions, Mason was a lynchpin of the quartet, writing and performing extra breakout hits such because the oft-covered “Feelin’ Alright?,” later picked up by the likes of the Jackson 5, Joe Cocker, and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Mason left Visitors for private causes after the discharge of 1967 debut Mr. Fantasy, rejoined to put in writing and report a number of songs for its self-titled follow-up, and was promptly fired resulting from disagreements together with his bandmates. Regardless of the dangerous blood, the band invited him to hitch them on and off for reside exhibits, together with the gigs that shaped the 1971 reside album Welcome to the Canteen.
Mason begrudgingly launched a solo profession with the 1970 album Alone Collectively, which featured musicians together with Leon Russell and his Visitors bandmate Jim Capaldi. He went on to attain a string of Billboard hits for himself and the various artists who lined him. He was additionally an in-demand collaborator, taking part in 12-string acoustic guitar on Jimi Hendrix’s cowl of Bob Dylan’s “All Alongside the Watchtower” and singing backing vocals on backing vocals on “Crosstown Visitors.” He contributed to data by the Rolling Stones (“Avenue Preventing Man”) and two post-Beatles initiatives: George Harrison’s All Issues Should Cross and Wings’ “Hearken to What the Man Stated.”
Mason went on to discovered an electrical guitar firm, RKS, and toured with Fleetwood Mac within the Nineteen Nineties. He and Visitors had been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 2004. The assertion on behalf of his household concluded, “Dave Mason lived a outstanding life dedicated to the music and the folks he cherished.”
