Dave Ball, a key member of the pioneering 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of electronic music.
He later formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, after a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he commented in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following contracting a lung infection and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an medically-induced sleep and remained in the hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for release in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we actually completed only a few days ago," stated the singer in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an uplifting year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense aspect of my existence and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is distinct from joining a band, the connection is incredibly close," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in the late 50s, 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 altered his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both studying 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 pair were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after watching Kraftwerk appear on a television program a popular series, and started to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling 21 million copies worldwide. Alongside hits by other artists, Human League and Ultravox, it helped cleared the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also included on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball not long ago told with a publication.
But it also caused challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it works for so many musicians."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to focus on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined dance music with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they reappeared in recent years, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was supposed to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, that year.
However, they stayed together, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball lately described the duo's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while making their initial records.
He noted that his time in medical care had shaped the band's sound.
"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 digital reflection of the noises in my head from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is due for release in the spring of 2026.
