Dave Ball, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the pair achieved a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album their initial full-length release is regarded as a classic of electronic music.
He subsequently founded the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who achieved chart success with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
During that show, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of health issues.
"I ended up injure myself quite a bit," he commented in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and cracked about five ribs and broke my wrist."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the latest project that we actually finished only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he listened to the completed album and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond referred to his bandmate as "an exceptionally talented musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant part of my existence and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming experiences together. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his given name from his birth name to David, together with his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both studying art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly produced an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all glitter and makeup; but they achieved a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had developed a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television program Tomorrow's World, and began to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Their signature song became the UK's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, selling millions of units worldwide. Together with successful tracks by other artists, Human League and Ultravox, it contributed to cleared the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two further high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in the following year.
Career Highlights
Fame had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my first home, having money and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a publication.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase substances to relieve the monotony" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up memorable record - the wayward, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a prosperous individual path, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further break, they returned in recent years, 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 large venue on September 30, that year.
Yet, they stayed active, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while making their first two albums.
He added that his period in medical care had influenced the group's music.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of the hospital because I was on pain medication," 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 me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
