Dave Allen, the bassist for British post-punks Gang of Four, has died aged 69. His surviving bandmates, vocalist Jon King and drummer Hugo Burnham, said that Allen had been suffering from early-onset mixed dementia.
Burnham said in a statement: “It is with broken yet full hearts that we share the news that Dave Allen, our old music partner, friend, and brilliant musician, died on Saturday morning. He was at home with his family.”
Burnham recalled a recent afternoon with Allen and family in which they “talked and laughed for hours, sharing rich and vivid memories of good times together. Adventures, careers in music, raising families, our interwoven lives spanning half a century. We’ve been so very lucky to have had the Ace of Bass in our lives.”
Allen was born in Kendal on 23 December 1955. He joined Gang of Four shortly after their formation in 1976, following the departure of short-lived bassist Dave Wolfson. Their acclaimed debut album, Entertainment!, was released in 1979. Allen departed the band in 1981 and co-founded the band Shriekback.
He subsequently performed with the Elastic Purejoy, Low Pop Suicide, King Swamp and Faux Hoax, and later went on to work in music technology, including at Beats Music and Apple Music.
Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill died of multiple organ failure and pneumonia in 2020; his widow Catherine Mayer believed he was an early victim of the Covid-19 pandemic after he had toured China in late 2019.
The band continued to perform after Gill’s death, with a farewell tour scheduled for North America later this month. “We know that Dave would have wanted nothing more than to step onstage with us again in Portland on our farewell US tour,” Burnham said. “But it’s now a bridge too far.”
