The talented musician, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored 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 classic of electronic music.
He later formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his residence in London on October 22, only a short time after playing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a spate of ill-health.
"I ended up damage myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and broke my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and remained in 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, called Danceteria, which is set for release next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the latest project that we actually finished only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was completely planned to be such an positive time for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond referred to his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented 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 aspect of my life and for the music you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is distinct from joining a band, the bond is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Born into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He was raised in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his given name from Paul to his adopted name, together with his younger sister his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both studying fine arts. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the very year, and quickly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an unusual pairing: Ball was the reserved technician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with electronic instruments after watching Kraftwerk perform on a television science show Tomorrow's World, and began to marry dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Their signature song became the UK's second biggest-selling single of 1981, selling 21 million copies globally. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, 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 number two in the following year.
Career Highlights
Fame had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also caused challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."
During the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
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 the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further break, 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 farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, that year.
However, they stayed together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
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 period in medical care had shaped the band's sound.
"I experienced strange recollections when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the times we got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only days before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for launch in Spring 2026.
