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Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.

Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a classic of electronic music.

He later formed the innovative techno group The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.

Ball died calmly in his rest at his home in London on October 22, just weeks after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.

Health Struggles

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

"I ended up damage myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and cracked about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."

Following contracting a lung infection and suffering from sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for half a year.

Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits mentally" during the summer, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for publication next year.

"He was focused and so happy with the new album that we literally completed only a short time ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.

"It's so sad as 2026 was completely planned to be such an uplifting time for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a masterpiece."

Tributes

Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.

"Thank you Dave for being an immense aspect of my life and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."

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

"Forming a partnership with someone is distinct from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he added.

"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming moments together. Thank you, Dave."

Early Life

Born into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months old.

He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his given name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.

He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the same year, and quickly produced an EP.

Creative Collaboration

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

Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after watching the band Kraftwerk appear on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and began to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.

Their signature song became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of 1981, shifting 21 million units globally. Alongside hits by Gary Numan, Human League and Ultravox, it helped paved the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.

The track was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which spawned two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.

Career Highlights

Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my first home, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.

But it also caused problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.

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

During the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they managed to create a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.

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

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

Later Work and Comebacks

Soft Cell reunited in 2001, producing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.

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

Yet, they stayed together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.

Ball lately characterized the duo's upcoming release as a homage to the New York club scene they frequented while making their first two albums.

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

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

"The new songs are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from those days.

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

The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is scheduled for release in Spring 2026.