Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the duo achieved a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of synth-pop.
He subsequently formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully 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 Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a spate of health issues.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I broke lower vertebrae in my spine and cracked about five ribs and broke my wrist."
After contracting pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place emotionally" over the summer, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the latest project that we literally finished only a few days ago," stated the vocalist 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 fact that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond referred to his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", stating: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my existence and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is distinct from joining a band, the connection is incredibly close," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Born into a single-parent household in Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who altered his given name from Paul to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both studying art. Fuelled by a shared love of Northern Soul, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an unusual combination: Ball was the quiet technician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk perform on a television program a popular series, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Their signature song became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of the early 80s, shifting 21 million 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 song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which spawned two additional high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in the following year.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having financial security and exploring, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball not long ago told with a publication.
But it also caused problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it works for so many musicians."
During the party-filled existence, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a follow-up memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to focus on other projects.
Almond proceeded 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 combined acid house with melodic sounds over a enduring collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another break, they returned in 2018, issuing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a final performance at the large venue on 30 September, that year.
Yet, 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 tribute to the NYC nightlife they visited while recording their first two albums.
He added that his time in medical care had influenced the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of hospital because I was on pain medication," he explained to a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for release in the spring of 2026.
