The talented musician, one half of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside vocalist Marc Almond, the pair achieved a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record their initial full-length release is regarded as a classic of electronic music.
He subsequently formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured popular acclaim with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away calmly in his sleep at his home in London on October 22, just weeks after performing a headline show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
During that show, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, following a spate of health issues.
"I managed to damage myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
After contracting a lung infection and suffering from 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 summer, as he was developing a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is set for publication in the coming year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the latest project that we actually finished only a short time ago," stated the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad as 2026 was all set to be such an uplifting 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 bandmate 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 immense part of my existence and for the music you created with me. I couldn'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 different from being in a band, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many remarkable, extraordinary, life-affirming experiences together. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his given name from Paul to his adopted name, together with his sibling his sister, who was also adopted.
He encountered Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both learning art. Inspired by a mutual passion of a music genre, they formed Soft Cell the same year, and quickly produced an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the reserved musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all sparkle and makeup; but they achieved a rare creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a interest with electronic instruments after watching the band Kraftwerk appear on BBC program a popular series, and began to combine dark electronica to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second most popular single of the early 80s, selling millions of units globally. Alongside successful tracks by other artists, Human League and electronic acts, it helped paved the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, which produced two further top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which peaked at the second position in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its upsides. "I enjoyed being able to afford my first home, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches meant we could afford newfound drugs 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 valid cause, because it applies for so many bands."
During the party-filled existence, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second memorable record - the wayward, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the band to concentrate 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 formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, releasing the Top 40 record 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 supposed to be a farewell show at the large venue on September 30, that year.
However, they remained together, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently described the duo's upcoming release as a homage to the NYC nightlife they visited while making their initial records.
He added that his period in medical care had shaped the group's music.
"I had unusual memories when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he told a publication.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were finished only a short time before Ball died. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
