Dave Ball, one half of the groundbreaking 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the team achieved a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record their initial full-length release is regarded as a seminal work of synth-pop.
He later formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a spate of health issues.
"I managed to injure myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my spine and cracked about five ribs and fractured my arm."
After catching pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "a great place mentally" during the summer, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for release next year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the new album that we literally finished only a few days ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an uplifting year for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond referred to his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant aspect of my life and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the bond is very tight," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments together. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Born into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his first name from Paul to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both learning art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an unusual combination: Ball was the quiet musician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all glitter and makeup; but they achieved a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after watching the band Kraftwerk perform on a television science show a popular series, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Their signature song became the UK's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, selling millions of units worldwide. Together with hits by other artists, Human League and Ultravox, it helped cleared the path for the synth-pop sound of the 80s.
The song was also included on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in the following year.
Professional Journey
Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having financial security and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball recently told with a publication.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could afford substances to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it works for so many bands."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second classic album - the unconventional, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group 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 formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a enduring collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another hiatus, they returned in 2018, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on September 30, that year.
However, they remained active, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball recently described the duo's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented while making their initial records.
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 pain medication," he told a publication.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the sounds in my mind from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the times we got up to in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is scheduled for release in Spring 2026.
