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The talented musician, a key member of the groundbreaking 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.

Together with singer Marc Almond, the duo scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of electronic music.

He later formed the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.

Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his home in London on October 22, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival 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 period of ill-health.

"I managed to injure myself quite a bit," he commented in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."

After contracting pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in hospital for half a year.

However, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the summer, as he was developing 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," stated the vocalist in a heartfelt message.

"It's so sad as next year was completely planned to be such an uplifting time for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a masterpiece."

Tributes

Almond referred to his bandmate as "an exceptionally talented creative mastermind", stating: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.

"Thank you Dave for being an significant aspect of my life and for the songs you gave me. I wouldn'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 partnership with someone is different from being in a group, the bond is very tight," he added.

"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, memorable moments as a team. Many thanks, Dave."

Early Life

Brought into the world into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.

He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his given name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was also adopted.

He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning art. Fuelled 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 distinctive combination: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all sparkle and makeup; but they attained a unique musical alchemy.

Ball had cultivated a interest with electronic instruments after viewing the band Kraftwerk appear on BBC program Tomorrow's World, and began to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.

Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of the early 80s, shifting 21 million units worldwide. Together with hits by other artists, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it contributed to cleared the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.

The song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, 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 reached at number two in the following year.

Career Highlights

Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to afford my initial property, having money and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a publication.

But it also caused challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could purchase substances to relieve the boredom" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.

"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it works for so many musicians."

Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to create a second memorable record - the unconventional, tense 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 other projects.

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 combined dance music with ambient pop over a enduring collaboration.

Later Work and Comebacks

Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.

After a further break, they returned in recent years, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.

However, they remained active, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.

Ball lately characterized the duo's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented while recording their first two albums.

He added that his time in medical care had shaped the band's sound.

"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on pain medication," he told a music magazine.

"The new songs are a digital reflection 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 passed away. It is scheduled for release in the spring of 2026.