The talented musician, a key member of the innovative 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Together with singer Marc Almond, the team scored a worldwide hit with their version of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their first record Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is regarded as a classic of electronic music.
He subsequently formed the innovative electronic act The Grid, who secured chart success with their 1994 single the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball died peacefully in his rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, 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 appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, following a period of ill-health.
"I managed to damage myself significantly," he stated in a recent interview. "I fractured lower vertebrae in my back and fractured about five ribs and broke my arm."
Following contracting pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an medically-induced sleep and remained in hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" during the summer, as he worked on a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is scheduled for release in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and so happy with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," stated the singer 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 knowledge that he heard the completed album and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Tributes
Almond referred to his collaborator as "a wonderfully brilliant musical genius", adding: "He was the core essence of Soft Cell and I'm very proud of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense aspect of my existence and for the music you created with me. I couldn't be where I am without you."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "endless laughter" and "steadfast support".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he added.
"That was the case with us. We went through so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments together. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Born into a one-parent family in the city of Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He grew up in Blackpool with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his first name from his birth name to David, alongside his younger sister Susan, who was also adopted.
He met Almond at an art college in 1977, where they were both learning fine arts. Fuelled by a shared love of Northern Soul, they formed Soft Cell the very year, and promptly produced an extended play.
Musical Partnership
The duo were an distinctive pairing: Ball was the quiet musician, hunched over his synthesizer, while Almond was a charismatic showman, all sparkle and makeup; but they attained a rare creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing Kraftwerk appear on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and began to marry moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, shifting 21 million copies worldwide. Alongside successful tracks by Gary Numan, Human League and Ultravox, it helped cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The track was also featured on their first album, their initial LP, which spawned two further top five hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the record up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at number two in 1982.
Career Highlights
Fame had its upsides. "I loved being able to afford my initial property, having financial security and travelling, which might seem like a beauty queen," Ball recently shared with a music magazine.
But it also presented problems. "Sudden riches meant we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of press appearances and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a common saying, but it's a cliché for a valid cause, because it works for so many musicians."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the pair were also growing distant, but they succeeded to create a second classic album - the unconventional, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more album, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on other projects.
Almond proceeded to have a successful solo career, featuring the top 10 hit Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed dance music 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.
Following another break, they returned in 2018, 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 30 September, that year.
However, they remained together, creating their latest project, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Ball lately characterized the duo's new album as a homage to the New York club scene they visited while making their first two albums.
He noted that his period in hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I experienced strange recollections 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 head from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the times we had in the 80s."
The last versions were finished only a short time before Ball passed away. It is due for launch in the spring of 2026.
