Dave Ball, one half of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the team achieved a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record their initial full-length release is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He later founded the innovative electronic act The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball died calmly in his rest at his home 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 last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself quite a bit," he commented in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and cracked about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we actually finished only a few days ago," said the singer in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an uplifting time for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his bandmate as "an exceptionally talented creative mastermind", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant aspect of my life and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from being in a group, the bond is incredibly close," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
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 the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both studying art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of Northern Soul, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk appear on BBC science show a popular series, and started to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, shifting millions of units worldwide. Together with successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped paved the way for the synth-pop sound of the 80s.
The track was also included on their first album, their initial LP, which spawned two further top five 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 exploring, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase substances to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up memorable record - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to focus on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a successful individual path, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a enduring partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further break, they returned in 2018, releasing the original singles 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, that year.
However, they stayed together, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently described the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented while making their initial records.
He noted that his time in medical care had influenced the group's music.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on pain medication," he told a publication.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for release in the spring of 2026.
