Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team achieved a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album their initial full-length release is regarded as a classic of electronic music.
He later formed the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who secured chart success with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball died peacefully in his rest at his home in London on October 22, only a short time after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
After catching pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is set for publication next year.
"He was focused and so happy with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," said the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad as next year was all set to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the heart and soul 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 gave me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a partnership with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Many thanks, 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 18 months old.
He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from Paul to his adopted name, together with his sibling his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both studying art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and quickly recorded an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an unusual pairing: Ball was the quiet technician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all glitter and makeup; but they attained a rare creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television program a popular series, and started to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Their signature song became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of the early 80s, selling 21 million copies worldwide. Together with hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped paved the way for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The song was also included on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at number two in 1982.
Career Highlights
Fame had its upsides. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase substances to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it works for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also drifting apart, but they managed to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed dance music with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further break, they returned in 2018, releasing 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, 2018.
However, they stayed together, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the duo's upcoming release as a homage to the NYC nightlife they frequented while making their initial records.
He added that his period in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times me and Marc had in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
