Dave Ball, one half of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of synth-pop.
He later founded the innovative techno group The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his residence in London on October 22, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
During that show, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself quite a bit," he stated in a recent interview. "I broke spinal bones in my spine and cracked about multiple ribs and broke my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" during the warmer months, as he worked on 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," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he listened to the completed album and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense aspect of my life and for the music you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the bond is very tight," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his given name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning fine arts. Fuelled by a shared love of Northern Soul, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the quiet technician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic 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 science show a popular series, and began to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling song of the early 80s, shifting millions of copies globally. Together with successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which spawned two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs 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."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a prosperous solo career, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a enduring collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, releasing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another hiatus, they reappeared in 2018, issuing 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 30 September, 2018.
However, they stayed together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball recently characterized the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their first two albums.
He added that his period in hospital had shaped the group's music.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was in and out of the 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 those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were finished only days before Ball passed away. It is due for release in Spring 2026.
