Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is an English musician and composer, best known as the drummer
of Pink Floyd. He is the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965. Despite
solely writing only a few Pink Floyd songs, Mason has co-written some of Pink Floyd's
most popular compositions such as "Echoes" and "Time".
Mason is the only Pink Floyd member to be featured on every one of their albums. It
is estimated that as of 2010, the group have sold over 250 million records worldwide, including
74.5 million units sold in the United States. He competes in auto racing events, such as
the 24 Hours of Le Mans. On 26 November 2012, Mason received an Honorary
Doctor of Letters from the University of Westminster at the presentation ceremony of the School
of Architecture and Built Environment.
Early life The son of the documentary film maker Bill
Mason, he was born in Birmingham but brought up in Hampstead, London, and attended Frensham
Heights School, near Farnham, Surrey. He later studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic,
where he teamed up with Roger Waters, Bob Klose and Richard Wright in 1964 to form Pink
Floyd's predecessor, Sigma 6. Musical career
Mason has been the drummer on every Pink Floyd album.
The only Pink Floyd songs that are solely credited to Mason are "The Grand Vizier's
Garden Party Parts 1–3" and "Speak to Me". The one-off song by the band titled "Nick's
Boogie" was named after him. 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 spoken parts of "Signs of Life" and "Learning to Fly" from A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
He does, however, sing lead vocals on two unreleased but heavily bootlegged tracks,
"Scream Thy Last Scream", penned by original leader Syd Barrett and "The Merry Xmas Song".
In live performances of the song "Sheep", he did the spoken section. Mason also appears
to sing lead vocals on the bridge to Waters' first composition Take Up Thy Stethoscope
and Walk. Despite legal conflicts over ownership of
the name 'Pink Floyd', which began when Waters left the group in 1986 and lasted roughly
seven years, 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 Pink 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. On 12 May 2007, Mason joined Waters again on stage at Earls Court to play The
Dark Side of the Moon. Again, on 12 May 2011, Mason was featured, along with David Gilmour,
on the encore "Outside the Wall" at a concert by Waters, who was performing The Wall in
its entirety. Gilmour also performed on "Comfortably Numb" that night.
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 Gilmour and Wright for the encore during Gilmour's show at the Royal Albert Hall, London,
on 31 May 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, mentioning
the possibility of "playing again for a charitable cause" or even "a tour" in various interviews
in the last few years. He also stated in 2006 that Pink Floyd have not officially disbanded
yet. Unlike the other members of Pink Floyd, Mason
has rarely played an instrument other than his drum kit or large array of percussion
instruments, although he has contributed sound effects to many Pink Floyd albums. He has
only ever played non-percussive instruments on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party", his
personal composition from Ummagumma, where he provided some keyboard, guitar and bass
noises, and on live versions of "Outside the Wall", where he played acoustic guitar along
with the rest of the band. However, on the Profiles album Mason released with Rick Fenn
in 1985, he is also credited with keyboards. He can be seen playing a vibraphone in the
promo video for "Lie for a Lie", but it is unknown if he actually played on the recording.
Mason has also said that he took some failed piano and violin lessons as a child before
taking up drums. Mason has done some work with other people,
notably as a drummer and producer for Steve Hillage, Robert Wyatt, The Damned and Gong.
He also drummed for Michael Mantler. Nick Mason used Premier drums in the 1960s
and occasionally in the 1970s. After that, he used Ludwig drums from 1970 until 1992.
He currently uses Drum Workshop drums, pedals and hardware. His kit is a DW double bass
kit with the Dark Side of the Moon logo on the drums. He has also used Paiste cymbals
during his entire career with Pink Floyd and currently uses a mixture of Paiste Traditional,
Signature and 2002 cymbals. He also endorses Remo drumheads, Latin Percussion and Pro-Mark
sticks. Mason's book, Inside Out: A Personal History
of Pink Floyd, was published in the UK in October 2004. It is also available, abridged,
as a 3CD audio book, read by Mason. An updated edition was published, in paperback, in 2011.
He performed in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games on 12 August 2012.
Pink Floyd songs co-written by Mason "Nick's Boogie"
"Pow R. Toc H." "Interstellar Overdrive"
"A Saucerful of Secrets" "Careful with That Axe, Eugene"
"Up the Khyber" "Party Sequence"
"Main Theme" "Ibiza Bar"
"More Blues" "Quicksilver"
"Dramatic Theme" "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"
"Atom Heart Mother" "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"
"One of These Days" "Seamus"
"Echoes" "When You're In"
"Speak to Me" "Time"
"Any Colour You Like" Drumming style
Influenced by jazz and big band music, Nick was a pioneer who embraced acoustic drums,
tuned percussion, electronic drums and Rototoms, melding all of these into a melodic whole.
His snare drum sound shifted from harsh demarcation of beats 2 and 4 to a fatter and gentler timbre
— a change that reflected growing studio chops. His style was gentler and more laid
back than other progressive rock drummers of the time. Mason soloed on a few Pink Floyd
compositions including 'Nick's Boogie', 'A Saucerful of Secrets', 'The Grand Vizier's
Garden Party', 'Up The Khyber' and 'Time'. Due to the dynamic live performances of Pink
Floyd, Mason's style was more energetic and complex live, and can be heard on such albums
as Ummagumma and Live at Pompeii. Non-musical ventures
Mason's first marriage was to Lindy Rutter, with whom he had two daughters Chloe and Holly.
Lindy was also an accomplished woodwind player and she played flute on The Grand Vizier's
Garden Party off Ummagumma. The couple divorced in the late 1980s and Mason is married to
his second wife, Nettie, most famous for her adjudication role on the second series of
Treasure Hunt in 1984. They have two sons Cary and Guy and live in Hampstead, London;
however, they often stay in the Wiltshire town of Corsham in the former home of Camilla
Parker Bowles. Holly is married to sports car racer Marino Franchitti, the younger brother
of multiple IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti. As Pink Floyd's recording and touring schedule
grew more sporadic, Mason was left with more time to pursue his favourite hobby: motor
racing. He owns and races several classic cars, and has competed successfully at the
24 Hours of Le Mans. His collection has been a subject of his 1998 book, Into the Red,
in which he documents his experience with his cars, along with some histories. He is
also a qualified pilot, and flies an Aerospatiale AS 350 Squirrel helicopter in specially painted
colours. Mason was invited by Ferrari to purchase one
of their 400 Enzos, which he let Jeremy Clarkson 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 the book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. This led
to Clarkson using Pink Floyd album titles in his description of the Enzo and The Stig
driving round the track with "Another Brick in the Wall" playing. Mason says that his
favourite car of all time is the Ferrari 250 GTO, and owns one of the 39 built.
His wealth amounts to £55 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2006–07.
Views and advocacy Mason has played concerts to raise funds for
Countryside Alliance. He is a board member and co-chairman of the Featured Artists' Coalition.
Mason has resided at Middlewick House near Corsham, north Wiltshire, since 1996.
Discography With Pink Floyd
Solo albums Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports – 3 May 1981
With Rick Fenn Profiles – 29 July 1985
White of the Eye – 1987 Tank Malling – 1988
With Michael Mantler The Hapless Child – 1976
Something There – 1982 Live – 1987
Review – 2000 Concertos – 2008
As a producer Principal Edwards Magic Theatre – The Asmoto
Running Band Principal Edwards Magic Theatre – Round
One Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom
Gong – Shamal The Damned – Music for Pleasure
Steve Hillage – Green; Co-produced with Steve Hillage. Mason also plays a drum on
"Leylines to Glassdom" Books
Into the Red: 22 Classic Cars That Shaped a Century of Motor Sport – 3 September 1998,
9 September 2004 Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd
– 28 October 2004 References
External links Nick Mason's Drummerworld profile
Nick Mason interviews Ten Tenths official site
Inside Out book page from Pink Floyd official site
Pink Floyd Drums: The Division Bell Tour Drums