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 pair scored a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of synth-pop.
He later formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball died calmly in his sleep at his home in London on October 22, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in Henley-on-Thames.
Recent Health Challenges
During that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a spate of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he commented in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my back and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my wrist."
After contracting pneumonia and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and remained in hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for release in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we literally finished only a short time ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's so sad as next year was all set to be such an positive year for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he listened to the completed album and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond referred to his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented musical genius", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my existence and for the music you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a partnership with someone is different from joining a group, the bond is incredibly close," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable moments together. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his first name from his birth name to David, together with his younger sister Susan, who was also adopted.
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 very year, and promptly produced an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an unusual combination: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk appear on a television science show a popular series, and began to marry moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling single of 1981, shifting 21 million copies globally. Together with hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it contributed to 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 spawned two further top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having money and travelling, which might seem like a Miss World," Ball recently told with a music magazine.
But it also caused challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase newfound drugs to relieve the monotony" of press appearances and television shows, Ball explained.
"I know that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it works for so many musicians."
During the party-filled existence, the duo were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up classic album - the wayward, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful 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 melodic sounds over a enduring collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, releasing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further hiatus, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.
Yet, they stayed together, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball recently described the duo's new album as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while making their first two albums.
He added that his time in medical care had shaped the group's music.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a publication.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from those days.
"Simultaneously, 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 passed away. It is due for release in Spring 2026.
