The talented musician, one half of the pioneering 1980s electronic music band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Alongside singer Marc Almond, the duo scored a worldwide hit with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in the mid-80s, and their debut album their initial full-length release is considered a seminal work of electronic music.
He later formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who secured chart success with 1994's the hit Swamp Thing.
Ball passed away 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
During that performance, Ball appeared in a wheelchair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself significantly," he commented in 2023. "I broke lower vertebrae in my spine and fractured about multiple ribs and fractured my wrist."
After catching pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was put in an induced coma and remained in hospital for half a year.
Nevertheless, he had been in "a great place mentally" over the summer, as he was developing a new album with Almond, titled the upcoming Danceteria, which is set for release next year.
"He was focused and so happy with the latest project that we actually completed only a short time ago," stated the singer in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as 2026 was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he listened to the finished record and believed that it was a great piece of work."
Heartfelt Messages
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 part of my existence and for the songs you created with me. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence."
His Grid bandmate from The Grid, also paid tribute, remembering Ball's "constant humor" and "steadfast support".
"Being in a duo with someone is different from joining a band, the connection is very tight," he continued.
"That's how it was with us. We went through so many remarkable, extraordinary, memorable moments as a team. Thank you, Dave."
Early Life
Brought into the world into a single-parent household in Chester in 1959, Ball was given up for adoption when he was 18 months of age.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents Donald and Brenda Ball, who changed his given name from Paul to his adopted name, alongside his sibling Susan, who was also adopted.
He met Almond at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, where they were both learning art. Fuelled by a mutual passion of Northern Soul, they established Soft Cell the same 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 performer, all sparkle and eye-liner; but they attained a rare musical alchemy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk perform on BBC science show Tomorrow's World, and started to marry moody electronic sounds to the soaring melodies Almond was writing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling song of 1981, shifting millions of copies worldwide. Alongside successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it helped paved the path for the synth-pop sound of the 80s.
The song was also included on their full-length debut, their initial LP, which spawned two additional top five singles: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They followed the record up with the stand-alone single, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Professional Journey
Fame had its benefits. "I enjoyed being able to purchase my initial property, having money and exploring, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball not long ago shared with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth allowed we could purchase newfound drugs to alleviate the monotony" of media interviews and TV performances, Ball explained.
"I know that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it applies for so many musicians."
During the party-filled existence, the duo were also growing distant, but they succeeded to produce a second memorable record - the wayward, edgy and fittingly named The Art Of Falling Apart.
They put out one more LP, their 1984 release This Last Night In Sodom, before ending the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond proceeded to have a successful individual path, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who combined acid house with melodic sounds over a long-lasting collaboration.
Later Work and Comebacks
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, producing the Top 40 record Cruelty Without Beauty.
After a further hiatus, they returned in recent years, issuing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was intended to be a farewell show at the large venue on September 30, 2018.
However, they remained together, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.
Ball lately described the band's upcoming release as a tribute to the New York club scene they visited while recording their first two albums.
He added that his period in medical care had shaped the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of the hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a music magazine.
"Our latest tracks are a electronic representation of the sounds in my mind from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences we had in the 1980s."
The final mixes were finished only days before Ball passed away. It is scheduled for release in Spring 2026.
