Tony Mason was born in London, England, then moved to Chagunas, Trinidad with his parents, at age 5. Upon arriving at the harbour in Port of Spain, the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago, Tony's attention immediately turned to a steelband playing for arriving passengers, and knew that he wanted to be a drummer. Tony began to play steel drums in his uncle's steel drum band, and then became the band's regular drummer. By the age of 16, Tony was playing with the top Brass band in the country, playing in Trinidad and travelling abroad. Wanting to expand his horizons and pursue a career in drumming, Tony took advantage of an opportunity to play in a band on a cruise ship based in Florida, which he did for a number of years.



He then moved to New York City to study at the Drummer's Collective, and stayed there for four years; during this time Tony took lessons with a number of drum "masters" including Lenny White, Kenwood Dennard, Peter Erskine, Tommy Campbell and the late Frank Marlabe. Tony moved back to London, England in 1986 and became a professional drummer. He has worked with a wide array of artists including Eddy Grant, Ronny Jordan, Martin Taylor, Peter White, Matt Bianco, Mary J. Blige, Daryl Hall, Daniel Beddingfield, Al Green and The Jazz Crusaders.