Dave Ball, a key member of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the pair scored a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of synth-pop.
He subsequently formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his home in London on October 22, only a short time after performing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
During that show, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of health issues.
"I ended up damage myself quite a bit," he commented in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and cracked about multiple ribs and broke my arm."
After contracting a lung infection and developing sepsis, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" during the summer, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the latest project that we actually completed only a few days ago," said the singer 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 believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", stating: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the songs you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is distinct from joining a band, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, memorable moments as a team. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He grew up in Blackpool with his new family his caregivers, who altered his first name from his birth name to David, together with his sibling Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both learning fine arts. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an unusual pairing: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all glitter and makeup; but they attained a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk perform on BBC program a popular series, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling millions of copies globally. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to cleared the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also included on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at number two in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently told with a publication.
But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches meant we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it works for so many bands."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also drifting apart, but they managed to produce a second memorable record - the unconventional, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to focus on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a successful individual path, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another hiatus, they returned in recent years, issuing the new tracks 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.
However, they remained active, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball lately described the duo's upcoming release as a homage to the New York club scene they frequented while making their first two albums.
He added that his time in medical care had influenced the band's sound.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was in and out of the hospital because I was on pain medication," he explained to a publication.
"Our latest tracks are a digital reflection of the sounds in my head from that time.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times we got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were finished only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
