The talented musician, one half of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the pair scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a seminal work of synth-pop.
He later founded the innovative electronic act The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Recent Health Challenges
At that performance, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a spate of ill-health.
"I ended up injure myself significantly," he commented in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my back and fractured about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following catching pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he was developing a fresh record with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release in the coming year.
"He was focused and so happy with the new album that we actually completed only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's so sad as 2026 was completely planned to be such an uplifting time for him, and I take some solace 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 "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 significant aspect 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, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a partnership with someone is distinct from joining a band, the bond is incredibly close," he added.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, memorable moments as a team. Thank you, 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 a year and a half of age.
He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who altered his first name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both learning fine arts. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and quickly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an distinctive combination: Ball was the quiet technician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a rare creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after watching the band Kraftwerk perform on BBC program a popular series, and began to marry moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling 21 million copies globally. Alongside hits by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to paved the way for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The track was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which spawned two additional top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which peaked at the second position in the following year.
Career Highlights
Fame 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 with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford substances to relieve the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it works for so many musicians."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair 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 another LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to focus on other projects.
Almond proceeded 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 came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further break, they returned in recent years, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.
However, they remained together, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the duo's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they frequented while recording their first two albums.
He noted that his period in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a publication.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences we had in the 80s."
The final mixes were completed only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
