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Dave Ball, one half of the innovative 1980s synth-pop duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.

Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team achieved a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album their initial full-length release is regarded as a classic of electronic music.

He later formed the innovative electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.

Ball passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.

Recent Health Challenges

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

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

After contracting pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in the hospital for seven months.

Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the summer, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, called the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release in the coming year.

"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we literally completed only a short time ago," said the singer in a heartfelt message.

"It's so sad as next year was completely planned to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he listened to the completed album and believed that it was a masterpiece."

Tributes

Almond referred to his bandmate as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", 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 significant aspect of my life and for the songs you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."

Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".

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

"That's how it was with us. We went through so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming experiences as a team. Many thanks, Dave."

Early Life

Brought into the world into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was 18 months old.

He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.

He met Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both studying art. Inspired by a mutual passion of Northern Soul, they established Soft Cell the same year, and promptly produced an EP.

Creative Collaboration

The pair were an unusual combination: Ball was the reserved technician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all glitter and makeup; but they attained a rare musical alchemy.

Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television program Tomorrow's World, and began to combine moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.

Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular single of 1981, shifting millions of copies worldwide. Alongside hits by other artists, Human League and electronic acts, it helped paved the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.

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

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

Professional Journey

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

But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches meant we could purchase substances to relieve the boredom" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball said.

"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it works for so many bands."

Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second memorable record - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.

They released one more album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.

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

Later Work and Comebacks

Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.

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

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

Ball recently characterized the band's new album as a tribute to the NYC nightlife they frequented while making their initial records.

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

"I had unusual memories when I was in and out of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.

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

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

The final mixes were finished only days before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.