Dave Ball, one half of the groundbreaking 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of synth-pop.
He subsequently formed the innovative electronic act The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his home in London on October 22, 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 appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and cracked about five ribs and broke my arm."
Following catching a lung infection and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and remained in hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" during the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the latest project that we literally completed only a short time ago," stated the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an positive year for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant aspect of my existence and for the songs you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a partnership with someone is distinct from joining a group, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, incredible, memorable moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He grew up in the seaside town with his new family his caregivers, who changed his first name from Paul to his adopted name, together with his younger sister his sister, who was also adopted.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and quickly produced an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a rare creative synergy.
Ball had developed a interest with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk appear on a television science show a popular series, and began to marry moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling 21 million copies globally. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it contributed to cleared the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also included on their first album, their initial LP, which spawned two additional top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Career Highlights
Fame had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my first home, having financial security and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches meant we could purchase substances to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a second classic album - the unconventional, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to focus on other projects.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined acid house with ambient pop over a enduring partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another break, they reappeared in 2018, 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 large venue on September 30, 2018.
However, they stayed active, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball recently described the duo's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while recording their first two albums.
He noted that his time in hospital had shaped the group's music.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc had in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for release in the spring of 2026.
