John Mason Olivia's lawyer writes book - i Paper

During our conversation, he proudly holds several personalised notes to the camera. They come from pop stars as diverse as Shakira, Olivia Newton-John and The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.

Mason has worked with them all during his 50-year legal career. And now, in a new memoir, Crazy Lucky, he’s sharing his stories – from moderating meetings for the Jackson family (we had near physical conflict every time) to dancing on stage with Donna Summer./

Mason’s most loyal client has been Olivia Newton-John. They worked together for almost 50 years. Mason even named his daughter after her.

I still get choked up and cry at her loss, he says, referring to Newton-John’s death from cancer in 2022.

When we went to see her the last time, she could barely walk. But she came outside with her walker and had tea served. We sat by her pool and she started joking and laughing.

His work with Newton-John also yielded the legal victories Mason is most proud of. These won her ownership of the master recordings for her hits. Back then, no artist had owned masters, not even Elvis Presley, Mason explains. “But the ownership of masters was a concept that I believed had its day. Meaning it was time for artists to own their recordings.”

Through cases like these, Mason built a reputation as an advocate for artists. And his book opens with a powerful testimony to that effect from Priscilla Presley.

I think if Elvis had a John Mason in his corner, things might have turned out very differently for him,” she writes.

Crazy Lucky Remarkable Stories from Inside the World of Celebrity by John Mason is out July 22