The talented musician, a key member of the pioneering 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the pair achieved a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' the classic track 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 techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away peacefully in his rest 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 performance, Ball performed in a wheelchair, as he had for the last two years, after a spate of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he stated in 2023. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and stayed in hospital for half a year.
However, he had been in "high spirits mentally" during the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is scheduled for release in the coming year.
"He was focused and very pleased with the latest project that we literally completed only a few days ago," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's so sad as 2026 was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I take some solace from the knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a great piece of work."
Tributes
Almond referred to 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.
"Many thanks Dave for being an significant part of my life and for the music you gave me. I couldn't be where I am without your influence."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, shared his condolences, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "unwavering friendship".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the connection is incredibly close," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, incredible, life-affirming experiences together. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in 1959, Ball was put up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He was raised in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who altered his first name from his birth name to his adopted name, alongside his sibling his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning fine arts. Fuelled by a shared love of a music genre, they established Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an unusual combination: Ball was the reserved musician, bent over his synthesizer, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all sparkle and makeup; but they attained a rare creative synergy.
Ball had developed a interest with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk appear on BBC program Tomorrow's World, and started to combine moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling song of 1981, shifting millions of copies worldwide. Alongside hits by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it contributed to paved the way for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The song was also featured on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which produced two additional top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the album up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Career Highlights
Fame had its benefits. "I loved being able to purchase my first home, having financial security and exploring, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago told with a music magazine.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches allowed we could afford substances to relieve the boredom" of press appearances and TV performances, Ball said.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it applies for so many bands."
Amidst the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also growing distant, but they managed to create a second classic album - the wayward, tense and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out another LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball created The Grid, who mixed dance music with ambient pop over a long-lasting partnership.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 album Cruelty Without Beauty.
Following a further hiatus, they returned in recent years, issuing the new tracks 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, that year.
However, they stayed active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the pandemic restrictions.
Ball recently described the band's new album as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while making their initial records.
He noted that his time in hospital had shaped the group's music.
"I had unusual memories when I was coming and going of the hospital because I was on morphine," he told a music magazine.
"The new songs are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from that time.
"Simultaneously, it's about the experiences me and Marc had in the 80s."
The final mixes were completed only a short time before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for launch in Spring 2026.
