Dave Ball, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the duo achieved a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of synth-pop.
He later formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
At that performance, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.
"I ended up injure myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I broke lower vertebrae in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
Following contracting a lung infection and suffering from blood poisoning, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits mentally" during the summer, as he was developing a fresh record with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was focused and so happy with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's so sad as next year was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant aspect of my existence and for the songs you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is incredibly close," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He grew up in Blackpool with his new family Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from his birth name to David, together with his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning fine arts. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and quickly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an unusual combination: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all glitter and eye-liner; but they attained a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after watching Kraftwerk perform on a television science show Tomorrow's World, and began to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, shifting 21 million units globally. Alongside hits by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to cleared the path for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, 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
Fame had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a music magazine.
But it also caused problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs to relieve the boredom" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a follow-up memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to focus on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a successful solo career, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined dance music with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they returned in recent years, 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 O2 Arena on September 30, 2018.
However, they stayed together, creating their fifth album, 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 frequented while making their initial records.
He added that his period in medical care had influenced the band's sound.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was in and out of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the noises in my mind from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the times we had in the 80s."
The final mixes were completed only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in Spring 2026.
