Dave Ball, a key member of the pioneering 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a classic of electronic music.
He subsequently founded the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball died calmly in his rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after performing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that show, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a spate of health issues.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he commented in a recent interview. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and cracked about five ribs and fractured my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and suffering from blood poisoning, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and remained in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was focused and so happy with the latest project that we literally completed only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad as next year was completely planned to be such an positive time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a duo with someone is distinct from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming experiences together. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who altered his given name from his birth name to David, together with his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both studying fine arts. Fuelled by a shared love 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 musician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all sparkle and makeup; but they achieved a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and began to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling 21 million units worldwide. Alongside hits by other artists, Human League and Ultravox, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also included on their first album, their initial LP, which spawned two further top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Fame had its upsides. "I loved being able to afford my initial property, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase substances to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it works for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a second memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled 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 other projects.
Almond went on to have a successful individual path, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another hiatus, they reappeared 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 large venue on September 30, 2018.
Yet, they remained active, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the duo's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while making their first two albums.
He noted that his time in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was in and out of hospital because I was on pain medication," 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 experiences me and Marc had in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
