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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Dave Allen, the bassist who played on Gang of Four’s Entertainment! and Solid Gold before co-founding Shriekback, died at home with his family on April 5, 2025. He was 69. Gang of Four bandmates said he had lived with early-onset mixed dementia for some years; their announcement did not give a separate cause of death.
What happened to Dave Allen?
Gang of Four drummer Hugo Burnham shared the news on behalf of the band’s surviving members. In a tribute reproduced by The Guardian, Burnham and Jon King called Allen their “old music partner, friend, and brilliant musician” and said he died on Saturday morning at home with his family.
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Solid Gold | $20.20 | Buy on Amazon |
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Return The Gift | $14.14 | Buy on Amazon |
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Happy Now | $19.58 | Buy on Amazon |
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![The Problem Of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang Of Four [2 CD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51AeGR-NJ+L._SL160_.jpg)
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The Problem Of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang Of Four [2 CD] | $12.97 | Buy on Amazon |
The bandmates said Allen had endured early-onset mixed dementia for years. The contemporary reports of his death did not identify a separate cause, so dementia should not be described as the officially stated cause of death.
What was Dave Allen known for?
Allen’s two defining band chapters were Gang of Four, the Leeds post-punk group he joined soon after its formation, and Shriekback, which he co-founded after leaving Gang of Four in 1981. His bass playing is heard on Gang of Four’s first two albums, Entertainment! and Solid Gold.
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Gang of Four and two landmark albums
Born David Geoffrey Allen in Kendal, England, on December 23, 1955, he joined Gang of Four shortly after the band formed in Leeds in 1976, replacing bassist Dave Wolfson. He played on the group’s 1979 debut, Entertainment!, and its 1981 follow-up, Solid Gold. Allen left the band in 1981.
Shriekback and later projects
After leaving, Allen co-founded Shriekback with Barry Andrews. His later musical projects included Elastic Purejoy, Low Pop Suicide, King Swamp, and Faux Hoax. He returned to Gang of Four for a reunion tour in 2004.
Rank #2
What did Allen do after his band career?
Allen also worked in music technology, including at Beats Music and Apple Music. That later work extended a career that crossed performance and the changing ways people encountered and used music.
Burnham and King’s tribute reflected on a final chance to play together that would not come: “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.” They also called him the “Ace of Bass” in their tribute.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four is a double album of tracks written by Andy Gill and Gang of Four, all newly reinterpreted and recorded by artists whose own unique contributions to music were enriched by listening to Gang of Four
Rank #3
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