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 considered a seminal work of synth-pop.
He subsequently formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his residence in London on October 22, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that show, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he commented in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and cracked about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
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.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, called the upcoming Danceteria, which is scheduled for release next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we literally completed only a few days ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's so sad as next year was all set to be such an uplifting year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he listened to the finished record and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond described 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 body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my existence and for the music you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, incredible, memorable experiences as a team. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He was raised in the seaside town with his new family Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both studying fine arts. Fuelled 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 distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all sparkle and makeup; but they attained a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had developed a interest with electronic instruments after watching Kraftwerk perform on BBC program Tomorrow's World, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular song of the early 80s, selling millions of units worldwide. Together with hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it contributed to paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two additional high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my first home, having financial security and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball recently told with a music magazine.
But it also caused problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford newfound drugs to relieve the monotony" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a prosperous individual path, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined acid house with melodic sounds over a enduring collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another break, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was supposed to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on September 30, 2018.
However, they remained together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball recently characterized the duo's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while recording their initial records.
He noted that his period in medical care had influenced the group's music.
"I had unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on pain medication," he told a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times me and Marc had in the 1980s."
The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
