Culture
Dave Ball, the Co-Founder of Soft Cell, and the “Tainted Love” Lead, Has Passed Away at the Age of 66
Dave Ball Remembered
Dave Ball, who with Marc Almond formed Soft Cell, is no more at 66. The news was confirmed by PEOPLE on Oct. 23, following a tribute made by Marc Almond on Instagram. A statement on Soft Cell’s website called Ball “his sleep passing away quietly” at his home in London on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
Almond shared on Instagram: “It’s very difficult to write this… but… the amazing brilliant musical genius David Ball went to sleep quietly on Tuesday night. David Ball had been ill for a long time and his decline was very slow, which I took into account when writing
Marc Almond honors Dave Ball’s courage, last festival set, and their upcoming final album together.
Marc Almond, 68, revealed that Dave Ball, although he could not travel abroad, kept a “determined spirit” to continue working in the studio and was still joining him for some Soft Cell shows in the U.K.
He pointed out that Ball’s farewell performance was at the Rewind Festival in August, where the musician “was very happy and, therefore, given a great uplift.”
“In a lot of ways, it is quite appropriate that the next (and therefore the last) album together is titled Danceteria,” Almond commented, “as the concept leads us almost back to the very start-New York in the early ’80s-the place and the time that really made us.”
Almond said Soft Cell’s last record would “close the circle,” acknowledging the duo’s British-American heritage and the memory of Dave Ball.
Marc Almond went on: “We always thought we were an honorary American band as well as a very British one. We have always been self‑referential to the Soft Cell story and myths, and this album in many ways will close that circle for us.”
He also joked that he wanted to see Ball around to celebrate “50 years” of Soft Cell in a couple of years.
“He will be kept in the hearts of the fans who lved his music. It is a cliché to say it, but it continues— and somewhere, at any moment, around the world, somebody listens to, plays, dances, and takes pleasure from a Soft Cell song—even if it’s just that particular two‑and‑a‑half‑minute‑long epic.”
A grieving Marc Almond bids farewell to Dave Ball, pointing fans to a full statement as the cause of death remains undisclosed.
Marc Almond went on to say, “I can only imagine what his family must be going through. Thank you, Dave, for being such a great part of my life and for the music that you gave me. Without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
The singer wrote on his website that fans can read the full statement there and accompanied it with a picture of Ball wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket, with his hands folded. No official cause of death has been disclosed.
Soft Cell changed the face of British music in the 1980s with their hit “Tainted Love,” an art school project to synth pop trendsetters.
The one-of-a-kind electro-pop artist from Blackpool, England, born in 1959, went to Arnold School and later studied at Leeds Polytechnic where he met Marc Almond. In 1979, the two formed Soft Cell, a band of art students.
Soft Cell were the sound of the 1980s British music scene with their first album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret released in 1981, which was the launch platform for synth-pop bands like Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys, and Erasure.
Their cover of Ed Cobb’s “Tainted Love” was their second single and it reached the top of the U.K. Singles Chart as well as being the best-selling single of 1981 in the country.
Dave Ball’s synthesizer work was the main reason for Soft Cell’s success, the acid‑house achievement with The Grid, and the collaborations with the pop’s elite.
Dave Ball—who was a fan of Northern soul and Kraftwerk—was the synth‑pop architect of Soft Cell. After their 1981 landmark, the band came up with four more studio albums: The Art of Falling Apart (1983), This Last Night in Sodom (1984), Cruelty Without Beauty (2002), and Happiness Not Included (2022). They also charted four more U.K. Top 10 singles: “Bedsitter” (1981), and “Torch,” “What!,” and “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye,” all of 1982.
Ball was one of the founding members of The Grid the innovative acid house duo that got a big hit with “Swamp Thing,” 1994. Besides that, he produced Kylie Minogue, Gavin Friday, and Anni Hogan, and created remixes for artists like David Bowie and Erasure.
