Getty ImagesDave Ball, one half of the pioneering 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the duo scored a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones’ Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of electronic music.
He later formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994’s Swamp Thing.
Ball died peacefully in his sleep 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.
During that show, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a spate of ill-health.
“I managed to damage myself quite a bit,” he told the Yorkshire Post in 2023. “I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and cracked about five ribs and broke my wrist”.
After catching pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was placed in an induced coma and remained in hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in “a great place emotionally” over the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for release next year.
“He was focused and so happy with the new album that we literally completed only a few days ago,” said the singer in a tribute.
“It’s so sad as 2026 was all set to be such an uplifting year for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a great piece of work.”
Almond described 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 legacy.
“Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.”
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball’s “endless laughter” and “unwavering friendship”.
“Being in a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the bond is very tight,” he added.
“That’s how it was with us. We went through so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming experiences together. Thank you, Dave.”
Born into a single-parent household in Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his first name from Paul to David, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was also adopted.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both studying art. Fuelled by a shared love of Northern Soul, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and quickly recorded an EP.
The duo were an unusual pairing: Ball was the quiet technician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after watching Kraftwerk appear on BBC science show Tomorrow’s World, and began to marry dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK’s second biggest-selling single of 1981, shifting 21 million copies worldwide. Alongside hits by Gary Numan, Human League and Ultravox, it helped paved the way for the synth-pop sound of the 80s.
The song was also included on their full-length debut, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which spawned two further top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at number two in 1982.
Getty ImagesFame had its upsides. “I loved being able to afford my first home, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World,” Ball recently told Classic Pop Magazine.
But it also presented problems. “Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs to relieve the boredom” of media interviews and TV performances, Ball said.
“I know that’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a good reason, because it works for so many bands.”
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also drifting apart, but they managed to create a second classic album – the wayward, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, 1984’s This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to concentrate on other projects.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, including the top 10 hit Something’s Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting collaboration.
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, producing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another hiatus, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was supposed to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.
However, they remained together, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball recently described the band’s new album as a tribute to the New York club scene they frequented 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 in and out of hospital because I was on morphine,” he told Classic Pop.
“The new songs are a digital reflection of the sounds in my head from that time.
“In parallel, it’s about the times me and Marc got up to in the 80s.”
The final mixes were completed only days before Ball died. It is due for release in Spring 2026.