The talented musician, one half of the innovative 1980s synth-pop duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the duo achieved a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of electronic music.
He later formed the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball died peacefully in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
During that show, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I broke lower vertebrae in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my arm."
After contracting a lung infection and developing sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and remained in the hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" over the warmer months, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the new album that we literally completed only a short time ago," stated the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as 2026 was all set to be such an positive time for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond referred to his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented musical genius", stating: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant aspect of my life and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a partnership with someone is different from being in a band, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable experiences together. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Born into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his first name from Paul to David, together with his sibling his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both studying fine arts. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the very year, and promptly produced an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an distinctive combination: Ball was the quiet technician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after watching Kraftwerk perform on a television program a popular series, and began to marry dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of the early 80s, shifting 21 million copies worldwide. Alongside hits by other artists, Human League and electronic acts, it contributed to cleared the way for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two additional high-charting singles: 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.
Professional Journey
Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my initial property, having money and travelling, which might seem like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford substances to alleviate the monotony" of press appearances and television shows, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to create a follow-up memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more album, 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, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined dance music with melodic sounds over a enduring partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell came back together in 2001, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they returned in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was intended to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on September 30, that year.
Yet, they stayed active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately described the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the NYC nightlife they visited while recording their initial records.
He added that his time in hospital had influenced the group's music.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he told a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc had in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
