The talented musician, one half of the pioneering 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is considered a classic of synth-pop.
He later founded the innovative electronic act The Grid, who achieved popular acclaim with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball died calmly in his sleep at his home in London on October 22, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind music event in Henley-on-Thames.
Recent Health Challenges
At that show, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a spate of health issues.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he stated in a recent interview. "I fractured spinal bones in my back and fractured about five ribs and broke my arm."
After contracting a lung infection and suffering from blood poisoning, he was put in an medically-induced sleep and stayed in hospital for seven months.
However, he had been in "a great place mentally" during the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is set for publication next year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the new album that we actually completed only a few days ago," stated the vocalist in a tribute.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was all set to be such an positive time for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he listened to the finished record and believed that it was a masterpiece."
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.
"Thank you Dave for being an significant aspect of my existence and for the music 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 duo with someone is distinct from being in a band, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, incredible, life-affirming experiences as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months old.
He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his first name from his birth name to David, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at an art college 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 extended play.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the quiet technician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and eye-liner; but they achieved a unique musical alchemy.
Ball had developed a interest with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk perform on a television science show a popular series, and started to combine dark electronica to the soaring melodies Almond was composing.
Their signature song became the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling song of 1981, shifting 21 million copies worldwide. Alongside hits by other artists, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 1980s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two additional top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in 1982.
Career Highlights
Success had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my first home, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a Miss World," Ball recently shared with a publication.
But it also caused challenges. "Newfound wealth allowed we could afford substances to relieve the monotony" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a truism for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they managed to produce a follow-up classic album - the unconventional, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released another LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a prosperous individual path, featuring the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in 2001, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another hiatus, they returned in recent years, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a farewell show at the large venue on September 30, that year.
However, they stayed active, recording their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball recently characterized the band's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they frequented while making their first two albums.
He noted that his period in medical care had shaped the group's music.
"I experienced unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he told a publication.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the sounds in my mind from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the times we got up to in the 1980s."
The final mixes were finished only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for launch in Spring 2026.
