Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record their initial full-length release is regarded as a classic of synth-pop.
He subsequently formed the innovative electronic act The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his home in London on October 22, just weeks after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
At that show, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a period of health issues.
"I managed to damage myself quite a bit," he commented in a recent interview. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my arm."
Following contracting a lung infection and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and remained in hospital for seven months.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" 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 focused and very pleased with the new album that we actually finished only a few days ago," stated the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad 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 masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant aspect of my life and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a partnership with someone is different from joining a band, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Born into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, together with his younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both studying fine arts. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and quickly produced an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an unusual combination: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they attained a rare creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on BBC program a popular series, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling millions of copies globally. Together with hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two additional top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also caused challenges. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it works for so many bands."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named 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 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 created The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another break, they returned in recent years, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was intended to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, 2018.
Yet, they remained together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the band's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their first two albums.
He noted that his time in hospital had shaped 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 publication.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the sounds in my head from that time.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences we had in the 1980s."
The final mixes were finished only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
