Dave Ball, a key member of the pioneering 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the duo scored a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of synth-pop.
He subsequently founded the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball died peacefully in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
During that show, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about five ribs and broke my wrist."
After catching pneumonia and suffering from sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for seven months.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits mentally" over the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the new album that we actually finished only a few days ago," said the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he listened to the finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense aspect of my life and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He was raised in the seaside town with his new family Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his given name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both learning art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly recorded an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all sparkle and makeup; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on BBC program a popular series, and began to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Their signature song became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling single of 1981, selling 21 million copies worldwide. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, Human League and Ultravox, it contributed to cleared the way for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two additional high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at the second position in 1982.
Professional Journey
Fame had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently told with a publication.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could purchase substances to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it works for so many musicians."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the duo were also drifting apart, but they managed to create a second classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to focus on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a prosperous individual path, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined dance music with ambient pop over a long-lasting collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further break, they returned in recent years, issuing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a farewell show at the large venue on 30 September, that year.
Yet, they stayed active, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball recently described the duo's new album as a tribute to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their first two albums.
He noted that his time in hospital had shaped the group's music.
"I had unusual memories when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on pain medication," he explained to a publication.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the sounds in my head from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the times we got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for release in the spring of 2026.
