The talented musician, a key member of the groundbreaking 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the duo achieved a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a classic of electronic music.
He subsequently formed the innovative electronic act The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, only a short time after playing a headline show 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 last two years, after a spate of health issues.
"I ended up injure myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my back and fractured about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
After contracting 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 "high spirits emotionally" over the summer, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for publication next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we literally finished only a few days ago," said the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as 2026 was completely planned to be such an uplifting time for him, and I find comfort from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense aspect of my existence and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the connection is incredibly close," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming moments together. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Born into a single-parent household in 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 Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his given name from Paul to David, together with his sibling Susan, who was also adopted.
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 same year, and quickly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The pair were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they attained a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television science show a popular series, and started to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, shifting 21 million units worldwide. Alongside successful tracks by Gary Numan, Human League and Ultravox, it helped 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 high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in the following year.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase substances to relieve the monotony" of press appearances and television shows, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many bands."
During the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to create a second memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a successful solo career, featuring 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 collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they returned in recent years, releasing the new tracks Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a farewell show at the large venue on 30 September, that year.
However, they stayed together, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the band's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their initial records.
He added that his time in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I had unusual memories when I was in and out of the hospital because I was on pain medication," he told a music magazine.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the noises in my mind from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences we got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were finished only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for launch in the spring of 2026.
