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Dave Ball, a key member of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.

Together with singer Marc Almond, the duo scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of electronic music.

He subsequently formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.

Ball died calmly in his rest at his home in London on October 22, only a short time after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.

Health Struggles

At that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.

"I managed to damage myself significantly," he commented in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my wrist."

Following contracting pneumonia and suffering from sepsis, he was placed in an induced coma and stayed in the hospital for seven months.

However, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" over the summer, as he was developing a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is set for publication next year.

"He was focused and so happy with the new album that we actually finished only a few days ago," stated the singer in a tribute.

"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an uplifting year for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he listened to the completed album and believed that it was a great piece of work."

Tributes

Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.

"Many thanks Dave for being an significant aspect of my life and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without you."

Richard Norris 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 continued.

"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."

Early Life

Born into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.

He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.

He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both learning art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and quickly produced an extended play.

Creative Collaboration

The pair were an unusual pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they attained a rare musical alchemy.

Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk appear on a television science show a popular series, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.

Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of 1981, selling millions of units globally. Alongside successful tracks 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 included on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

They followed the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at number two in the following year.

Career Highlights

Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a publication.

But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could afford newfound drugs to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.

"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."

Amidst the party-filled existence, the pair were also drifting apart, but they managed to create a second memorable record - the wayward, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.

They released another album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to focus on other projects.

Almond went on to have a prosperous solo career, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined dance music with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.

Reunions and Final Projects

Soft Cell came back together in 2001, producing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.

Following a further hiatus, they reappeared in 2018, issuing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, that year.

However, they stayed 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 frequented while recording their initial records.

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

"I had unusual memories when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a publication.

"Our latest tracks are a digital reflection of the sounds in my head from those days.

"Simultaneously, it's about the times me and Marc got up to in the 80s."

The final mixes were completed only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for release in the spring of 2026.