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

Alongside singer Marc Almond, the team achieved a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of electronic music.

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

Ball died peacefully in his rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.

Recent Health Challenges

During that show, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, after a period of ill-health.

"I managed to injure myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my spine and fractured about five ribs and broke my arm."

Following catching a lung infection and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for seven months.

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

"He was concentrated and very pleased with the new album that we actually completed only a short time ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.

"It's truly heartbreaking as 2026 was all set to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and believed that it was a masterpiece."

Tributes

Almond described his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.

"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the songs you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."

His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".

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

"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming experiences together. Many thanks, Dave."

Formative Years

Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.

He was raised in Blackpool with his new family his caregivers, who changed his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, together with his sibling Susan, who was also adopted.

He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both studying art. Inspired by a shared love of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and quickly recorded an EP.

Musical Partnership

The duo were an unusual combination: Ball was the quiet musician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all glitter and eye-liner; but they attained a unique creative synergy.

Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk perform on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and began to marry dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.

Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of 1981, selling millions of units worldwide. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.

The track was also included on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two further top five 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 upsides. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball not long ago shared with a publication.

But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase substances to alleviate the monotony" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball said.

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

During the party-filled existence, the duo were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up classic album - the wayward, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.

They released another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to focus on individual endeavors.

Almond went on to have a prosperous individual path, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed dance music with melodic sounds over a long-lasting collaboration.

Reunions and Final Projects

Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.

Following another break, they reappeared in recent years, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.

Yet, they stayed active, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.

Ball recently described the duo's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they visited while recording their first two albums.

He added that his time in hospital had influenced the band's sound.

"I had strange recollections when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a music magazine.

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

"In parallel, it's about the times we got up to in the 1980s."

The last versions were completed only days before Ball died. It is due for launch in Spring 2026.