Daevid Allen (born Christopher David Allen on 13 January 1938 in Melbourne, Australia; died on 13 March 2015) was an Australian poet, guitarist, singer, composer and performance artist. He was one of the founders of the British progressive rock band Soft Machine in 1966. After recording just one album with the group, he became the founder/leader of Gong, which he left in 1975 to begin a solo career (though his first solo album, Banana Moon, was released in 1971 while he was still in the group).