The talented musician, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the pair scored a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' the classic track Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album their initial full-length release is regarded as a seminal work of electronic music.
He later founded the innovative electronic act The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his rest at his residence in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after performing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames.
Health Struggles
During that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured spinal bones in my back and fractured about five ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following contracting a lung infection and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in the hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "a great place emotionally" during the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the new album that we actually completed only a short time ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's so sad as 2026 was all set to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant 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 immense aspect of my existence and for the music you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is distinct from being in a band, the connection is incredibly close," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming 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 put up for adoption when he was a year and a half of age.
He was raised in the seaside town with his new family his caregivers, who altered his given name from his birth name to David, together with his younger sister 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 formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an extended play.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a charismatic performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they attained a unique creative synergy.
Ball had developed a fascination with synthesizers after watching Kraftwerk perform on a television program a popular series, and began to marry dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling single of 1981, shifting millions of units globally. Alongside successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and electronic acts, it contributed to cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also included on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two further high-charting singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at the second position in 1982.
Professional Journey
Fame had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having money and exploring, which might seem like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could purchase substances to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and television shows, Ball explained.
"I know 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 pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to create a second 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 ending the group to focus on other projects.
Almond went on to have a successful individual path, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed dance music with melodic sounds over a enduring partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, releasing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further break, they returned in recent years, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before performing what was intended to be a farewell show at the O2 Arena on September 30, 2018.
However, they stayed together, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.
Ball recently described the band's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their initial records.
He noted that his period in medical care had influenced the band's sound.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a publication.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the noises in my mind from that time.
"Simultaneously, it's about the times me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only a short time before Ball died. It is due for release in Spring 2026.
