The talented musician, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of synth-pop.
He later formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, after a period of ill-health.
"I ended up injure myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
Following catching pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in the hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "a great place mentally" during the summer, as he was developing a fresh record with Almond, titled Danceteria, which is set for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," said the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was completely planned to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge 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 legacy.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant aspect of my existence and for the songs you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the connection is very tight," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We experienced so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming experiences as a team. Many thanks, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He grew up in the seaside town with his new family his caregivers, who changed his given name from his birth name to his adopted name, together with his sibling Susan, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both studying fine arts. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the very year, and quickly recorded an extended play.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an unusual combination: Ball was the reserved technician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had developed a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing the band Kraftwerk perform on a television program Tomorrow's World, and started to marry dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular song of the early 80s, selling 21 million units globally. Alongside hits by other artists, Human League and Ultravox, it contributed to cleared the way for the synth-pop sound of the 1980s.
The song was also included on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which spawned two additional top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at number two in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to afford my initial property, having money and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a publication.
But it also presented challenges. "Sudden riches meant we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it works for so many bands."
During the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a follow-up memorable record - the wayward, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to focus 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 formed The Grid, who mixed dance music with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further hiatus, they returned in 2018, issuing 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 September 30, that year.
Yet, they stayed active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the duo's upcoming release as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their initial records.
He added that his period in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a digital reflection of the noises in my mind from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the times we had in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only days before Ball died. It is due for launch in Spring 2026.
