The talented musician, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He subsequently founded the innovative techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
At that performance, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of health issues.
"I managed to injure myself quite a bit," he commented in a recent interview. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and fractured about five ribs and broke my arm."
After catching a lung infection and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he worked on a fresh record with Almond, called the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release next year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the latest project that we actually finished only a few days ago," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an uplifting year for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he listened to the finished record and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond referred to his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant creative mastermind", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the songs you gave me. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence."
Richard Norris from The Grid, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from being in a band, the connection is incredibly close," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, incredible, life-affirming experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Formative Years
Brought into the world 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 the seaside town with his new family Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his given name from Paul to David, alongside his sibling Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both studying art. Inspired by a mutual passion of Northern Soul, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved technician, bent over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with electronic instruments after viewing the band Kraftwerk perform on BBC program a popular series, and started to marry dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, shifting 21 million units globally. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it helped paved the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having money and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could purchase substances to relieve the boredom" of media interviews and television shows, Ball said.
"I know that's a common saying, but it's a truism for a valid cause, because it applies for so many musicians."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also drifting apart, but they managed to create a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond went on 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 combined acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, releasing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another break, they reappeared in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a final performance at the O2 Arena on 30 September, 2018.
Yet, they remained together, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently described the duo's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their first two albums.
He added that his time in hospital had influenced the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the sounds in my mind from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times we had in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only days before Ball died. It is due for release in Spring 2026.
