Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the pair scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of electronic music.
He subsequently formed the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball died calmly in his rest at his residence in London on October 22, only a short time after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
During that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I ended up injure myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
After contracting pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is set for release in the coming 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 truly heartbreaking as next year was completely planned 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 "an exceptionally talented 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 aspect of my existence and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is distinct from being in a group, the connection is incredibly close," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming moments together. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He was raised in Blackpool with his new family his caregivers, who changed his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, together with his younger sister his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the very year, and quickly produced an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all glitter and makeup; but they attained a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk appear on BBC science show a popular series, and started to marry moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of the early 80s, selling millions of copies globally. Together with hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The song was also included on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two additional high-charting singles: 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 benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having money and exploring, which might seem like a Miss World," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also caused problems. "Newfound wealth allowed we could afford substances to relieve the boredom" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it applies for so many musicians."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also drifting apart, but they managed to create a second memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a prosperous individual path, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined dance music with ambient pop over a long-lasting collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further 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 O2 Arena on 30 September, that year.
Yet, they remained together, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently described the duo's upcoming release as a homage to the New York club scene they frequented while recording their initial records.
He added that his period in medical care had influenced the group's music.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was in and out of the 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 times me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for release in the spring of 2026.
