Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album their initial full-length release is considered a classic of electronic music.
He later founded the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball died peacefully in his rest at his residence in London on October 22, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
During that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, after a period of ill-health.
"I ended up damage myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and cracked about five ribs and broke my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and remained in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a fresh record with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," stated the singer in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as 2026 was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he listened to the completed album and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant aspect of my existence and for the music you gave 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 partnership with someone is different from being in a band, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Born 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 old.
He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from Paul to David, together with his younger sister Susan, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both studying fine arts. Inspired by a shared love of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the same year, and promptly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all sparkle and makeup; but they attained a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk perform on a television science show a popular series, and began to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of the early 80s, selling 21 million copies globally. Together with hits by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped cleared the path for the synth-pop sound of the 80s.
The song was also included on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two additional high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at the second position in the following year.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to afford my initial property, having money and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball recently told with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches meant we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and television shows, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also drifting apart, but they managed to create a second classic album - the unconventional, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to focus on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful individual path, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed dance music with melodic sounds over a long-lasting collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in 2001, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they reappeared in recent years, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a final performance at the large venue on 30 September, 2018.
However, they remained together, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the duo's upcoming release 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 group's music.
"I had unusual memories when I was in and out of hospital because I was on pain medication," he told a publication.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my mind from that time.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times we had in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only days before Ball died. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
