The talented musician, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the pair scored a global success with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a classic of electronic music.
He subsequently founded the pioneering electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after performing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Recent Health Challenges
During that show, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
After catching a lung infection and suffering from sepsis, he was put in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for seven months.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place emotionally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a fresh record with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is scheduled for release next year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the new album that we actually finished only a short time ago," said the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's so sad as 2026 was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I take some solace from the fact that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented creative mastermind", adding: "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 part of my life 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, recalling Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a partnership with someone is distinct from being in a group, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many remarkable, 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 grew up in the seaside town with his new family Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive combination: Ball was the quiet musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and makeup; but they achieved a unique creative synergy.
Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television program a popular series, and began to marry dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Their signature song became the UK's second most popular song of 1981, shifting millions of copies globally. Together with successful tracks by other artists, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to paved the way for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also featured on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which spawned two further top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having money and travelling, which might seem like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it works for so many bands."
Amidst the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to create a second memorable record - the unconventional, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to focus on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, including the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who combined acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, releasing the charting record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following 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 intended to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, 2018.
However, they remained together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.
Ball recently described the duo's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they frequented while making their initial records.
He added that his time in hospital had shaped the group's music.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only days before Ball died. It is scheduled for release in the spring of 2026.
