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Dave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.

Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record their initial full-length release is regarded as a classic of electronic music.

He subsequently founded the innovative electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with 1994's Swamp Thing.

Ball died peacefully in his sleep at his residence in London on October 22, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.

Health Struggles

During that show, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, after a period of health issues.

"I ended up injure myself quite a bit," he commented in 2023. "I broke lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about five ribs and broke my wrist."

Following contracting pneumonia and suffering from sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in the hospital for half a year.

Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place emotionally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.

"He was concentrated and so happy with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," stated the singer in a heartfelt message.

"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a great piece of work."

Tributes

Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", 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 existence and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without you."

Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".

"Being in a partnership with someone is different from joining a group, the bond is very tight," he continued.

"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming moments as a team. Many thanks, Dave."

Early Life

Brought into the world into a single-parent household in the city of 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 Blackpool with his new family his caregivers, who altered his first name from Paul to his adopted name, together with his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.

He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning fine arts. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly produced an extended play.

Musical Partnership

The duo were an unusual combination: Ball was the quiet musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all glitter and makeup; but they attained a rare creative synergy.

Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television science show Tomorrow's World, and started to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.

Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular song of the early 80s, selling millions of units worldwide. Alongside hits by Gary Numan, Human League and Ultravox, it helped paved the way for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.

The track was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, which spawned two additional top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

They continued the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at the second position in 1982.

Career Highlights

Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my initial property, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a music magazine.

But it also caused problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and television shows, Ball explained.

"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."

Amidst the party-filled existence, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a second classic album - the wayward, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.

They released one more LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to focus on other projects.

Almond went on to have a prosperous individual path, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting partnership.

Later Work and Comebacks

Soft Cell reunited in 2001, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.

After another hiatus, they returned in 2018, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was supposed to be a final performance at the large venue on September 30, 2018.

Yet, they remained active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.

Ball recently described the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the NYC nightlife they frequented while making their first two albums.

He noted that his period in hospital had shaped the group's music.

"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on pain medication," he explained to 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 80s."

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