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Dave Ball, a key member of the pioneering 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.

Alongside singer Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of electronic music.

He subsequently founded the innovative techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.

Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in Henley-on-Thames.

Recent Health Challenges

At that show, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a spate of health issues.

"I managed to damage myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."

Following contracting pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for half a year.

However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for release in the coming year.

"He was focused and so happy with the latest project that we literally finished only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.

"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an positive year for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a masterpiece."

Heartfelt Messages

Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", stating: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.

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

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

"Being in a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the bond is incredibly close," he added.

"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable experiences as a team. Thank you, 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 18 months old.

He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his given name from Paul to his adopted name, alongside his sibling Susan, who was similarly welcomed.

He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both studying art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of Northern Soul, they established Soft Cell the very year, and promptly recorded an EP.

Musical Partnership

The duo were an distinctive combination: Ball was the quiet musician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.

Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after watching Kraftwerk perform on a television science show Tomorrow's World, and began to marry dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.

Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular song of 1981, selling 21 million units globally. Together with successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.

The track was also included on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

They followed the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.

Professional Journey

Success had its benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my first home, having financial security and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a publication.

But it also caused challenges. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford newfound drugs to relieve the monotony" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.

"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 pair were also growing distant, but they managed to create a follow-up classic album - the wayward, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.

They put out another LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to concentrate on other projects.

Almond went on to have a prosperous individual path, including 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 long-lasting partnership.

Later Work and Comebacks

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

After a further break, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, 2018.

However, they stayed together, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.

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

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

"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.

"The new songs are a digital reflection of the sounds in my mind from that time.

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

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