Dave Ball, one half of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the pair scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record their initial full-length release is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He subsequently formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
At that show, Ball performed 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 fractured about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following catching a lung infection and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place emotionally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the new album that we literally completed only a few days ago," stated the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad as next year was all set to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented musical genius", stating: "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 significant aspect of my life and for the songs you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a partnership with someone is different from being in a band, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable experiences as a team. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the same year, and quickly produced an extended play.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after watching the band Kraftwerk perform on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and began to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Their signature song became the United Kingdom's second most popular single of 1981, selling 21 million copies globally. Together with hits by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to 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 further high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Professional Journey
Success had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my initial property, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford substances to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second memorable record - the wayward, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed dance music with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in 2001, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another 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 farewell show at the large venue on September 30, that year.
However, they remained active, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball recently characterized the band's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they frequented while recording their first two albums.
He noted that his time in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I had unusual memories when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on pain medication," he explained to a publication.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the noises in my head from those days.
"In parallel, 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 died. It is due for launch in Spring 2026.
