The talented musician, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the team achieved a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record their initial full-length release is considered a seminal work of synth-pop.
He subsequently founded the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly 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 the Thames-side town.
Recent Health Challenges
During that show, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, after a period of health issues.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and fractured about five ribs and broke my wrist."
Following contracting a lung infection and suffering from blood poisoning, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" over the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is scheduled for release next year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the new album that we literally finished only a short time ago," stated the singer in a tribute.
"It's so sad as 2026 was all set to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he listened to the completed album and believed 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 body of work.
"Thank you 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."
Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a partnership with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, incredible, memorable experiences together. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Born into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his first name from his birth name to David, together with his younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning fine arts. Inspired by a shared love of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly produced an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the quiet musician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with electronic instruments after watching Kraftwerk perform on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and began to marry dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling 21 million copies worldwide. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped paved the path for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which spawned two additional high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my first home, having financial security and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also caused challenges. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford substances 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 valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the band to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful 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 ambient pop over a enduring partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further break, they returned 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, that year.
However, they stayed together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently described the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the NYC nightlife they visited while recording their first two albums.
He noted that his period in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a publication.
"Our latest tracks are a digital reflection of the noises in my head from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 80s."
The final mixes were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
