Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the pair scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He later founded the innovative electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after performing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
During that show, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and cracked about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
After catching a lung infection and developing sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and remained in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is set for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the latest project that we literally completed only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's so sad as 2026 was all set to be such an positive time for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he heard the completed album and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my existence and for the music you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the connection is incredibly close," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, incredible, life-affirming experiences together. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Born into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He grew up in Blackpool with his new family his caregivers, who changed his given name from Paul to David, together with his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning fine arts. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and quickly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had developed a interest with synthesizers after watching the band Kraftwerk appear on a television science show Tomorrow's World, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular song of 1981, selling millions of copies worldwide. Alongside hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped paved the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also included on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two additional top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at the second position in the following year.
Career Highlights
Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball not long ago told with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could purchase newfound drugs to relieve the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it works for so many musicians."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful solo career, including the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined dance music with melodic sounds over a long-lasting collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another hiatus, they returned in recent years, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a farewell show at the large venue on 30 September, 2018.
However, they remained together, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently characterized the band's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they visited while making their initial records.
He added that his period in medical care had shaped the band's sound.
"I had unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on pain medication," he told a publication.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc had in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
