Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the duo achieved a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of electronic music.
He subsequently formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his residence in London on October 22, just weeks after performing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Recent Health Challenges
At that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a spate of health issues.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
After catching a lung infection and developing blood poisoning, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, called the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for publication next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we literally completed only a short time ago," said the singer in a tribute.
"It's so sad as next year was completely planned to be such an positive time 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 "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense aspect 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, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is incredibly close," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many remarkable, extraordinary, memorable moments together. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Born into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He was raised in the seaside town with his new family his caregivers, who changed his given name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both studying art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the very year, and quickly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an unusual pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a rare creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with electronic instruments after watching the band Kraftwerk perform on a television program a popular series, and started to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling song of the early 80s, shifting millions of copies worldwide. Alongside successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped paved the path for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which spawned two additional top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth allowed we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to create a second classic album - the wayward, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to focus on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful individual path, including the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in 2001, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another hiatus, they returned in 2018, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was intended to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.
Yet, they remained together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently characterized the band's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they frequented while making their initial records.
He noted that his time in hospital had shaped the group's music.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was in and out 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 that time.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times we got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
