Dave Ball, a key member of the pioneering 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of electronic music.
He later founded the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball died peacefully in his sleep at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
At that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I ended up damage myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I broke spinal bones in my spine and cracked about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following catching a lung infection and suffering from sepsis, he was put in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for seven months.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" during the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the latest project that we literally finished only a few days ago," said the vocalist 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 completed album and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented creative mastermind", stating: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a partnership with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who altered his given name from Paul to David, together with his younger sister his sister, who was also adopted.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning fine arts. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and quickly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive combination: Ball was the quiet technician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they attained a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk appear on BBC program Tomorrow's World, and began to marry dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular song of the early 80s, selling millions of units worldwide. Together with successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two additional high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Career Highlights
Fame had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also caused challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, 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 party-filled existence, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to create a second classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a prosperous individual path, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed dance music with ambient pop over a enduring collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further break, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was supposed to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, that year.
Yet, they stayed together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented while making 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 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 we had in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only a short time before Ball died. It is due for release in the spring of 2026.
