Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the team scored a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of electronic music.
He later formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
At that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a spate of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits mentally" during the summer, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was focused and so happy with the latest project that we literally completed only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad as 2026 was all set to be such an uplifting year for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he listened to the finished record and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented creative mastermind", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant part of my existence and for the songs you gave me. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a partnership with someone is distinct from joining a group, the bond is very tight," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from his birth name to David, together with his sibling his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both studying art. Inspired by a shared love of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and quickly recorded an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive combination: Ball was the quiet technician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk appear on BBC program Tomorrow's World, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of the early 80s, shifting millions of copies worldwide. Together with successful tracks by Gary Numan, Human League and Ultravox, it helped paved the path for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two additional high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Professional Journey
Fame had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to afford my initial property, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently told with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase newfound drugs to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it applies for so many musicians."
During the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they managed to create a second memorable record - the unconventional, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a successful individual path, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following 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 O2 Arena on 30 September, that year.
However, they remained together, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball recently described the band's new album as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while making their first two albums.
He added that his period in hospital had influenced the group's music.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he told a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my mind from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were finished only days before Ball died. It is due for launch in Spring 2026.
