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Nick Mason
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nick Mason | ||
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 Nick Mason at a booksigning
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Nicholas Berkeley Mason | |
| Born | January 27, 1944 (age 63) Birmingham, England |
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| Genre(s) | Progressive Rock Psychedelic Rock Instrumental Rock |
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| Occupation(s) | Musician, Producer, Author | |
| Instrument(s) | Drums | |
| Years active | 1964 - present | |
| Label(s) | Capitol Columbia Sony EMI Harvest |
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| Associated acts |
Pink Floyd Sigma 6 The Screaming Abdabs |
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Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason (born January 27, 1944 in Birmingham, England) is the drummer for Pink Floyd. He has been the only consistent member of the band since its formation. He also competes in auto racing, e.g. the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
He was born in Birmingham but brought up in Hampstead, London (many online biographies mistakenly cite the street address, Downshire Hill - sometimes as "the Downshire Hills" - as a district of Birmingham) and attended Frensham Heights School, Surrey. He later studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster), where he teamed up with Roger Waters, Bob Klose and Richard Wright in 1964 to form Sigma 6.
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Mason has played on every Pink Floyd album since 1967, although it was later revealed that his contributions to the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason were quite minimal, only playing on "Learning to Fly", "On the Turning Away" and "Yet Another Movie".
Despite conflicts over ownership of the name 'Pink Floyd', Roger Waters and Nick Mason are now on good terms. Mason joined Waters on the last two nights of his 2002 world tour to play drums on the Floyd song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", and he also played drums on some concerts of Waters' European tour in 2006, and during performances in Los Angeles and New York City in the United States.
In July 2005 Mason, Gilmour, Wright, and Waters played together on stage for the first time in 24 years. A four song set was played at the Live 8 concert in London. Mason also joined David Gilmour and Richard Wright for the encore during Gilmour's show at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on May 31, 2006, reuniting the post-Waters Pink Floyd. Mason has also claimed to be the link between Gilmour and Waters, and believes the band will play live again. His answers have ranged from "playing again for a charitable cause" to "a tour" given in various interviews in the last few years. He also stated in 2006 that Pink Floyd have not officially disbanded yet.
The only Pink Floyd songs he is completely solely credited to are The Grand Vizier's Garden Party Parts 1-3 (from Ummagumma) and "Speak to Me" (From The Dark Side of the Moon). The one-off song by the band entitled Nicks Boogie, was named after him.
Mason has done a small amount of work with other people, notably as a drummer and producer for Steve Hillage and Robert Wyatt, drummer for Michael Mantler and producer for The Damned.
Nick Mason's book, Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, was published in the UK in October 2004. While he himself admits it is a subjective view of events, it has brought a much-needed humorous viewpoint to a band perceived by many as introspective miserablists. It is also available as a 3CD audio book.
Mason is married (to his second wife, Nettie) and has four children; two daughters (Holly and Chloe) from his first marriage and two sons (Guy and Cary) from his second. They live in the Wiltshire town of Corsham in the former home of Camilla Parker Bowles.
As Floyd's recording and touring schedule grew more sporadic, Mason was left with more time to pursue his favorite hobby, auto racing. He owns (through his company Ten Tenths) and races several classic cars, and has competed successfully at the 24 hours of Le Mans. He is also a qualified pilot, and flies a Aerospatiale AS-350 helicopter in specially painted "Darkside of the Moon" colours[1]
Mason was lucky enough to have been invited by Ferrari to purchase one of their 400 Enzos, which Jeremy Clarkson pleaded with him to borrow for reviewing purposes on the BBC motoring programme Top Gear. Mason agreed, on the sole condition that throughout the review, Clarkson promoted the release of Inside Out. This led to Clarkson using Pink Floyd album titles in his description of the Enzo. Mason says that his favourite car of all time is the Ferrari 250 GTO, and owns one of the 39 built.
- The only times Mason's voice has been included on Pink Floyd's albums are "Corporal Clegg", the single spoken line in "One of These Days" and backing vocals on "Learning to Fly" and "Sorrow" from A Momentary Lapse of Reason. He does, however, sing lead vocals on the unreleased but heavily bootlegged "Merry Xmas Song" (date not certain -- 1969 or 1975?).
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1981 | Fictitious Sports |
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29 July 1985 | Profiles |
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28 October 2004 | Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd |
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