Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the duo scored a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album their initial full-length release is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He later formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
During that performance, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a spate of ill-health.
"I ended up injure myself significantly," he commented in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my wrist."
After contracting a lung infection and suffering from blood poisoning, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a fresh record with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication next year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the latest project that we actually finished only a few days ago," stated the singer in a tribute.
"It's so sad as next year was completely planned to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he listened to the finished record and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond referred to his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the heart and soul 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 couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the connection is very tight," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable moments together. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He was raised in Blackpool with his new family Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from Paul to his adopted name, 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 same year, and quickly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all sparkle and makeup; but they attained a rare creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk appear on a television science show Tomorrow's World, and began to marry moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of the early 80s, selling 21 million copies globally. Alongside hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it contributed to cleared the way for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in the following year.
Professional Journey
Fame had its upsides. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having money and exploring, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."
During the party-filled existence, the duo were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to create a second memorable record - the unconventional, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to focus on other projects.
Almond went on to have a successful individual path, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a enduring collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in 2001, producing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another break, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a final performance at the large venue on September 30, that year.
However, they remained together, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball lately described the duo's new album as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while making their first two albums.
He noted that his period in medical care had influenced the group's music.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a publication.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my mind from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the times we got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only a short time before Ball died. It is due for launch in Spring 2026.
