Traffic were an English rock band formed in Birmingham[4] in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason.

[5] The band had early success in the UK with their debut album Mr. Fantasy and non-album singles "Paper Sun", "Hole in My Shoe", and "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush".

Dave Mason left the band shortly after the album's release, moving on to a solo career that produced a few minor hit songs in the 1970s.

By 1970, Blind Faith had also broken up and Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood reformed Traffic, with John Barleycorn Must Die being the band's comeback album.

Their next LP, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971), went platinum in the US and became popular on FM radio, establishing Traffic as a leading progressive rock band.

[5] Drummer/vocalist/lyricist Jim Capaldi and guitarist Dave Mason had both been in the Hellions and Deep Feeling, while woodwinds player Chris Wood came out of Locomotive.

[8] Mason left the group due to artistic differences[9] just after Mr. Fantasy was released, but rejoined for a few months of 1968,[10] long enough to contribute to seven of ten songs on their second album, Traffic.

Released in 1968, it included the original version of Mason's "Feelin' Alright", which was later recorded with great success by Joe Cocker and Three Dog Night.

[4] Winwood, Wood, and Capaldi wanted to take the group in a different direction, opting for a folk/blues style rather than their earlier psychedelic/eclectic rock sound, while Mason was oriented towards psychedelic pop.

[10] The band toured the US as a trio in late 1968, which led to the following year's release of Traffic's next album, Last Exit, one side of which was recorded live.

His departure went unexplained at the time, even to Capaldi and Wood, but he later said "Because of the way I ended the Spencer Davis Group, I saw no reason why I shouldn't leave Traffic and move on.

Following the departure of Mason, Traffic released The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971), which was a Top 10 American album but did not chart in the UK.

[12] Once again, however, personnel problems wracked the band as Grech and Gordon were fired in December 1971 due to excessive drug use,[11] and the month after, Winwood's struggles with peritonitis brought Traffic to a standstill.

The album included a surplus recording from The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, "Open Your Heart", and the new tracks featured drummer Roger Hawkins and bassist David Hood, from the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio house band.

[4] The new lineup (Winwood, Capaldi, Wood, Kwaku Baah, Hawkins, Hood) toured America in early 1972 to promote the LP, and their concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 21 February was recorded in multitrack audio and captured on colour videotape with multiple cameras.

Following Winwood's recovery from peritonitis, Traffic's sixth studio album, Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory, released in 1973, met with a cold critical reception, but in sales it was another major hit.

Kwaku Baah died on stage from a cerebral hemorrhage in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983, and Capaldi dedicated his solo album Fierce Heart to his memory.

The Last Great Traffic Jam, a double live album and DVD released in 2005, documents the band's 1994 reunion tour.

Dear Mr. Fantasy featured the music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic, and all profits went to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal.