Dave Ball, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the duo achieved a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record their initial full-length release is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He later founded the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his home in London on October 22, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a spate of health issues.
"I ended up injure myself quite a bit," he commented in a recent interview. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and cracked about multiple ribs and broke my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and suffering from sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" over the summer, as he was developing a fresh record with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for release next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we actually finished 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 believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his bandmate as "an exceptionally talented musical genius", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the bond is incredibly close," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from Paul to David, alongside his younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the very year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an unusual pairing: Ball was the quiet technician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they attained a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after watching Kraftwerk appear on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and began to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of 1981, shifting 21 million units globally. Together with successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped cleared the path for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which spawned two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having money and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball recently told with a publication.
But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford substances to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it applies for so many musicians."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to create a second classic album - the wayward, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to focus 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 combined dance music with melodic sounds over a enduring partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in 2001, producing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further break, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was intended to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, that year.
Yet, they remained together, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.
Ball recently described the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented while recording their first two albums.
He added that his period in hospital had influenced the band's sound.
"I experienced strange recollections 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 noises in my mind from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the times we got up to in the 80s."
The final mixes were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is due for release in Spring 2026.
