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 duo scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He later formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball died calmly in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in Henley-on-Thames.
Recent Health Challenges
During that show, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a spate of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I broke lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my arm."
After catching pneumonia and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is set for release next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we literally completed only a few days ago," said the singer in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was completely planned to be such an positive time for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my existence and for the music you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable experiences together. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
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 was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his first name from his birth name to David, together with his younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both studying fine arts. Inspired by a mutual passion of Northern Soul, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and quickly recorded an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all sparkle and makeup; but they attained a unique creative synergy.
Ball had developed a interest with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk appear on BBC program a popular series, and started to marry moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling song of 1981, selling 21 million copies worldwide. Together with successful tracks by Gary Numan, Human League and electronic acts, it helped paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also included on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which spawned two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at number two in the following year.
Professional Journey
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also caused challenges. "Sudden riches meant we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I realize 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 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 put out one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond went on to have a prosperous solo career, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another hiatus, they returned in 2018, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.
However, they stayed together, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the band's new album as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented while recording their first two albums.
He noted that his period in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 80s."
The final mixes were finished only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
