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

Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record their initial full-length release is considered a seminal work of electronic music.

He later founded the innovative techno group 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 Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.

Recent Health Challenges

At that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of health issues.

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

Following contracting a lung infection and developing sepsis, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in hospital for seven months.

Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" over the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is set for release next year.

"He was focused and very pleased with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a tribute.

"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."

Tributes

Almond referred to his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented musical genius", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.

"Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my existence and for the music 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 "steadfast support".

"Forming a partnership with someone is distinct from being in a band, the bond is very tight," he added.

"That was the case with us. We went through so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."

Early Life

Born into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.

He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who altered his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, together with his sibling Susan, who was similarly welcomed.

He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both studying fine arts. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly produced an EP.

Creative Collaboration

The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved technician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all glitter and makeup; but they achieved a rare creative synergy.

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

Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular single of 1981, selling millions of units globally. Alongside hits by other artists, Human League and electronic acts, it helped paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.

The song was also included on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

They followed the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in 1982.

Career Highlights

Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having financial security and exploring, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.

But it also caused challenges. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford substances to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.

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

During the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to produce a second classic album - the wayward, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.

They released another LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band 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 created The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a enduring partnership.

Later Work and Comebacks

Soft Cell reunited in 2001, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.

After a further hiatus, they returned in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on 30 September, that year.

Yet, they stayed active, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic 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 medical care had shaped the band's sound.

"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.

"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from that time.

"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc had in the 80s."

The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for release in Spring 2026.