Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s synth-pop duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team achieved a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of synth-pop.
He later formed the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
During that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, following a spate of ill-health.
"I ended up damage myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my back and cracked about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following contracting a lung infection and developing blood poisoning, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" during the summer, as he was developing a new album with Almond, called the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release in the coming year.
"He was focused and so happy with the new album that we literally finished only a few days ago," stated the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an positive year 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."
Tributes
Almond referred to his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant part of my existence and for the songs you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the bond is very tight," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming moments as a team. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his first name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He met 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.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an unusual pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they attained a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk perform on BBC program Tomorrow's World, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of the early 80s, shifting millions of copies worldwide. Alongside hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also included on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in the following year.
Professional Journey
Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my initial property, having money and exploring, which might seem like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also caused problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of press appearances and television shows, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it works for so many bands."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a second memorable record - the wayward, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a prosperous solo career, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, producing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further break, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, that year.
Yet, they remained together, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.
Ball lately characterized the duo's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they visited while making their initial records.
He noted that his period in medical care had influenced the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he told a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc had in the 80s."
The final mixes were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
