Dave Ball, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music duo 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' Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He later founded the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Recent Health Challenges
At that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of health issues.
"I ended up damage myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I broke lower vertebrae in my back and cracked about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following contracting pneumonia and suffering from blood poisoning, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" 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 focused and very pleased with the new album that we literally completed 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 finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense aspect of my life and for the songs you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a partnership with someone is different from joining a group, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming experiences together. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from Paul to his adopted name, 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 formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the quiet 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 fascination with electronic instruments after watching the band Kraftwerk perform on BBC science show a popular series, and began to combine moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling single of 1981, shifting 21 million copies globally. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped paved the way for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two further high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Fame had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having money and exploring, which might seem like a Miss World," Ball not long ago told with a publication.
But it also caused problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could purchase substances to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it works for so many musicians."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second classic album - the wayward, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to focus on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a prosperous individual path, 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 enduring partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following 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 final performance at the large venue on September 30, that year.
Yet, they stayed active, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball lately characterized the band's upcoming release as a homage to the NYC nightlife they frequented while making their first two albums.
He noted that his time in medical care had influenced the band's sound.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the noises in my mind from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences we had in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
