Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album their initial full-length release is regarded as a seminal work of electronic music.
He later founded the innovative electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball died 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 music event in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that show, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, following a spate of health issues.
"I ended up damage myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my wrist."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was placed in an induced coma and stayed in the hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is set for publication next year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the new album that we actually finished only a few days ago," said the singer in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as 2026 was completely planned to be such an uplifting year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his bandmate as "an exceptionally talented creative mastermind", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant aspect of my life and for the songs you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a partnership with someone is different from being in a band, the connection is incredibly close," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from Paul to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both studying fine arts. Inspired by a shared love of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the same year, and quickly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the quiet technician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after watching the band Kraftwerk appear on BBC program a popular series, and began to marry moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of 1981, shifting 21 million units globally. Together with successful tracks by other artists, Human League and electronic acts, it contributed to paved the way for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also included on their first album, their initial LP, which spawned two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently told with a music magazine.
But it also caused problems. "Newfound wealth allowed we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second memorable record - the unconventional, edgy 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 other projects.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, including the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, producing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they returned in 2018, issuing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.
However, they remained active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.
Ball lately characterized the duo's new album as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented while making their first two albums.
He added that his time in hospital 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 explained to a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the sounds in my head from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the times me and Marc had in the 1980s."
The final mixes were finished only days before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
