Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a classic of synth-pop.
He later founded the innovative techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his home in London on October 22, just weeks after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a period of health issues.
"I ended up damage myself quite a bit," he commented in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my back and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
After contracting pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release next year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the new album that we literally completed only a short time ago," said the singer in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as 2026 was all set to be such an positive year for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant part of my life and for the songs you gave me. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is distinct from joining a band, the bond is incredibly close," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, incredible, memorable experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Born into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
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 younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both learning art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an unusual pairing: Ball was the quiet technician, bent 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 interest with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television science show Tomorrow's World, and began to combine moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling song of 1981, selling 21 million copies worldwide. Together with successful tracks by other artists, Human League and electronic acts, it helped paved the path for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The track 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 continued the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my first home, having financial security and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently told with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford substances to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."
During the party-filled existence, the pair were also drifting apart, but they managed to produce a second memorable record - the wayward, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a prosperous solo career, including 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 collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they reappeared in recent years, releasing 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, 2018.
Yet, they stayed active, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately described the band'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 hospital had shaped the group's music.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a publication.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for release in the spring of 2026.
