Dave Allen, the bassist in the influential British post-punk band Gang of Four, died Saturday, April 5, after suffering from early-onset dementia. He was 69.
The news was shared on the band’s official social media accounts, in a post written by drummer Hugo Burnham.
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“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,” the post reads. “He was at home with his family. Dave had endured the early-onset of mixed dementia for some years which has been a heartbreaking time for his wife Paddy, his children, and close friends.
“Our love and thoughts are with them. [Gang of Four singer] Jon [King] and I [Hugo] went to see him and spent a lovely afternoon with him and the family. We 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.“We know that Dave would have wanted nothing more than to step onstage with us again in Portland on our farewell US tour. But it’s now a bridge too far. Goodbye, Old Friend,” it concluded.
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Though Allen wasn’t the band’s original bass player, he joined Gang of Four after some of their earliest gigs and played on the group’s first two albums, 1979’s Entertainment! which made Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2020, and its follow-up, 1981’s Solid Gold.
He went on to play with several other bands, including Shriekback, The Elastic Purejoy, Low Pop Suicide and King Swamp while segueing into the music business by founding World Domination Recordings.
He rejoined Gang of Four for a reunion tour in 2005, featuring the band’s best-known lineup, which included a stop at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, Calif.
In 2014, he was named to the post of Director, Artist & Music Industry Advocacy for Beats Music. After that company was acquired by Apple Music he stayed on for a stint working in artist relations.
Allen is the second member Gang of Four to die in recent years. Guitarist Andy Gill died on Feb. 1, 2020 of COVID-19 at 64.
Gang of Four, with its current lineup of original members King, Burnham as well as bassist Gail Greenwood and guitarist Ted Leo, kick off the U.S. leg of their Long Goodbye farewell tour on April 18 in Westport, Conn.
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