Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the team achieved a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album their initial full-length release is regarded as a classic of synth-pop.
He later formed the innovative electronic act The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.
"I ended up injure myself quite a bit," he commented in 2023. "I broke lower vertebrae in my spine and cracked about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
After catching pneumonia and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release next year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the latest project that we actually completed only a few days ago," said the singer in a tribute.
"It's so sad as 2026 was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", stating: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant part of my existence and for the music you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a group, the bond is incredibly close," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming moments together. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who altered his given name from his birth name to David, together with his younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an unusual combination: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk appear on a television program a popular series, and began to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling song of 1981, selling millions of units globally. Together with successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to cleared the path for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two additional top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in the following year.
Professional Journey
Success had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having financial security and exploring, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs to relieve the boredom" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it works for so many musicians."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to focus on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful individual path, including the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined acid house with melodic sounds over a enduring collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they returned in 2018, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was supposed to be a farewell show at the large venue on September 30, that year.
Yet, they remained active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the band's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they frequented while recording their first two albums.
He added that his time in hospital had influenced the band's sound.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from that time.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times me and Marc got up to in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
