The founder of the cult ’70s outfit was told in February he had only six months to live.

Daevid Allen, leader of prog-jazz visionaries Gong, has died aged 77. The Australian-born artist had previously undergone surgery to address a tumour in his neck, but at the beginning of this year he was told the cancer had returned and spread to his lungs.

In February he wrote a message to fans explaining his condition and said he was “not interested in endless surgical operations and in fact it has come as a relief to know that the end is in sight. I am a great believer in ‘The Will of the Way Things Are’ and I also believe that the time has come to stop resisting and denying and to surrender to the way it is.”

Allen’s son, Orlando Monday Allen, confirmed his father’s death on Facebook.

“And so dada Ali, bert camembert, the dingo Virgin, divided alien and his other 12 selves prepare to pass up the oily way and back to the planet of love. And I rejoice and give thanks,” he wrote.

“Thanks to you dear dear daevid for introducing me to my family of magick brothers and mystic sisters, for revealing the mysteries, you were the master builder but now have made us all the master builders. As the eternal wheel turns we will continue your message of love and pass it around. We are all one, we are all gong. Rest well my friend, float off on our ocean of love. The gong vibration will forever sound and its vibration will always lift and enhance. You have left such a beautiful legacy and we will make sure it forever shines in our children and their children. Now is the happiest time of yr life. Blessed be.”

Allen was born in Australia in 1938 and moved to the UK in 1961, where he founded Canterbury prog rock band Soft Machine. After overstaying his visa following a European tour in 1966 he was forced to stay in Paris, where he then formed Gong along with his wife, singer Gilli Smyth. The band released many albums under many line-ups over the years, but were best known for their “Radio Gnome Trilogy” consisting of Flying Teapot (1973), Angel’s Egg (1973), and You (1974). [via Guardian]

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