Dave Ball, one half of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the pair achieved a worldwide hit with their cover 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 innovative electronic act The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
At that show, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself quite a bit," he commented in a recent interview. "I broke spinal bones in my back and cracked about five ribs and broke my arm."
Following contracting a lung infection and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and stayed 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 set for publication next year.
"He was focused and so happy with the new album that we literally completed only a short time ago," said the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was completely planned to be such an uplifting year for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense aspect of my life and for the songs you gave me. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a partnership with someone is distinct from joining a band, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
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 a year and a half old.
He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his first name from Paul to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning fine arts. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the same year, and quickly produced an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an unusual pairing: Ball was the quiet musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they attained a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and started to marry dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of the early 80s, shifting millions of copies globally. Alongside successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which spawned two further top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Professional Journey
Fame had its upsides. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it works 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 wayward, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful individual path, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another break, they returned in recent years, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, that year.
Yet, they stayed active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the duo's new album as a tribute to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their first two albums.
He added that his period in hospital had influenced the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a publication.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the sounds in my head from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc had in the 80s."
The final mixes were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
