The talented musician, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the pair scored a worldwide hit 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 electronic act The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball died calmly in his rest at his residence 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 performed in a mobility chair, as he had for the last two years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he stated in a recent interview. "I fractured spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was placed in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for seven months.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" over the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for publication in the coming year.
"He was focused and so happy with the latest project that we literally finished only a few days ago," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad as 2026 was all set to be such an positive time for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the finished record and believed that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond described his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our legacy.
"Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn't be where I am without you."
Richard Norris from The Grid, also paid tribute, recalling Ball's "endless laughter" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a partnership with someone is distinct from joining a band, the bond is very tight," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, incredible, life-affirming moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Born into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He was raised in the seaside town with his new family Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from Paul to his adopted name, alongside his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in the late 70s, where they were both studying art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Musical Partnership
The pair were an unusual combination: Ball was the quiet technician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant performer, all glitter and makeup; but they achieved a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had developed a interest with synthesizers after watching the band Kraftwerk perform on a television program Tomorrow's World, and started to marry dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the United Kingdom's second most popular single of the early 80s, shifting 21 million units worldwide. Alongside hits by other artists, Human League and electronic acts, it contributed to paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The track was also included on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two additional 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 the following year.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my first home, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could purchase newfound drugs to relieve the monotony" of media interviews and television shows, Ball said.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it works for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, tense and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another album, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a successful individual path, including the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a enduring collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell came back together in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following another break, they returned in 2018, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was intended to be a farewell show at the large venue on September 30, that year.
Yet, they remained active, recording their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic Covid lockdown.
Ball lately described the band's new album as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their first two albums.
He noted that his period in hospital had influenced the group's music.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of hospital because I was on pain medication," he explained to a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the noises in my head from those days.
"In parallel, it's about the times we had in the 1980s."
The final mixes were completed only a short time before Ball died. It is due for launch in Spring 2026.
