Happy Birthday - Nick Mason (27 January)

Birth name: Nicholas Berkeley Mason
Born: 27 January 1944 (1944-01-27) (age 64)
Birmingham, England
Associated acts:
-Pink Floyd:
-Sigma 6
-The Screaming Abdabs
-Mason & Fenn
-Robert Wyatt
Nationality: British

Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason (born 27 January 1944 in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England) is the drummer for Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1964. He also competes in auto racing events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The son of the documentary film maker Bill Mason, 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 Pink Floyd's predecessor
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 Hampstead, London however they often stay 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 favourite 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. His collection has been a subject of his 1998 book, Into the Red which he documents his experience with his cars along with some histories. He is also a qualified pilot, and flies a Aerospatiale AS 350 Squirrel helicopter in specially painted colours.
Mason was 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 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 (despite the fact that the Enzo does not come equipped with a stereo). Mason says that his favourite car of all time is the Ferrari 250 GTO, and owns one of the 36 built. He later sold his Enzo to millionaire Mohammad Jamil for £650 000.
Nick 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.
He is worth £55 million according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2006-2007

Nick Mason Facebook

External links
Nick Mason's Drummerworld profile
Nick Mason Interviews
"Into the Red" driving Nick's racing cars
Ten Tenths official site
Inside Out book page from Pink Floyd official site
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Mason