Gang Of Four bassist Dave Allen dies aged 69

6 April, 2025

Dave Allen, the bassist with the legendary post-punk band Gang Of Four, has died at the age of 69.

The news was confirmed on Sunday (April 6) by the group’s drummer Hugo Burnham in a social media post, in which he noted that Allen had been living with early onset dementia for several years.

“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 wrote.

“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. Jon 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.”

Gang Of Four formed in Leeds in 1976, originally comprised of singer Jon King and guitarist Andy Gill alongside Allen and Burnham. They quickly came to be one of the emblematic bands of the fertile, eclectic guitar music scene of the late ‘70s, incorporating elements of dub, funk and R&B into punk rock.

Their debut album Entertainment! in 1979 is considered one of the seminal albums in the history of post-punk and gave a platform for the band’s left-wing lyrics that drew from Marxist and Situationist philosophy. NME ranked it as the fifth best album of 1979.

Gang Of Four released their second album Solid Gold in 1981 and shortly afterwards, Allen left the band to form Shriekback, a new wave band, with XTC’s Barry Andrews. He would later play in the bands Elastic Purejoy and Low Pop Suicide, and went on to found the label World Domination Recordings and work in artist relations at Apple Music.

Allen re-joined Gang Of Four for their reunion in 2004, remaining for the 2005 album ‘Return The Gift’, before departing once again in 2008.

The band are about to kick off their US farewell tour, which will run until the end of May. Andy Gill of the band passed away in 2020 at the age of 64.

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