NEED TO KNOW
Soft Cell co-founder Dave Ball has died. He was 66.
On Thursday, Oct. 23, PEOPLE confirmed the news of his death, which was shared by lead vocalist Marc Almond on Instagram. According to a statement on Soft Cell’s official website, Ball had “passed away peacefully in his sleep at his London home” on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
“It is hard to write this, let alone process it, but it is with the greatest sadness that the other half of Soft Cell, the wonderful brilliant musical genius David Ball, died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday night. As many of you are aware, Dave has been ill for a long while and his health had been in slow decline over recent years,” he began.
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Almond, 68, noted that Ball always had a “determined spirit to continue his work in the studio” despite being unable to travel abroad” and was able to still perform with him as Soft Cell at times in the U.K.
He noted that Ball’s last appearance was at the Rewind Festival in August, where the late musician “was elated and given an enormous boost.”
“It’s fitting in many ways that the next (and now the last) album together is called Danceteria as the theme takes us for a visit back to almost the start of it all, back to New York in the early 80’s, the place and time that really shaped us,” wrote Almond.
He continued: “We always felt we were an honorary American band as well as quintessentially British. 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.”
Almond noted that he wished Ball was still alive to celebrate “to celebrate 50 years” as a band in a few years.
“He will always be loved by fans who loved his music. It’s a cliche to say but it lives on and somewhere at any given time around the world someone listens to, plays, dances, and get’s pleasure from a Soft Cell song – even if it’s just that particular two and half minute epic,” he wrote.
Added Almond: “My thoughts are with his family at this time. Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.”
He then directed fans to a full statement on his website.
Alongside the post, he shared a photo of Ball in sunglasses sporting a leather jacket with his hands folded.
No official cause of death has been revealed at this time.
Born in 1959 and raised in Blackpool, England, the electro-pop pioneer studied at the Arnold School and then Leeds Polytechnic, where he met Almond. In 1979, the duo formed Soft Cell while they were both art students at the school.
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Throughout their career, Soft Cell helped the sound of British music in the 1980s, beginning with the release of their 1981 debut LP Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which helped usher in a wave of synth-pop artists like Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure.
The band’s second single, a reworked cover of the 1981 Ed Cobb-penned track “Tainted Love,” topped the U.K. Singles Chart. and was known as the best-selling single of the year in the U.K.
Ball, a fan of Northern soul and Kraftwerk, was known as the synth-pop innovator behind Soft Cell.
The band released four additional studio albums between 1982 and 2021: The Art Of Falling Apart (1983); This Last Night In Sodom (1984); Cruelty Without Beauty (2002); and Happiness Not Included (2022). The pair also landed o secured four more top 10 singles in the U.K. with 1981’s “Bedsitter” and 1982’s “Torch,” “What!,” and “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.”
Ball also formed pioneering acid house act The Grid, which found chart success with their 1994 song “Swamp Thing.”
Throughout his career, Ball also worked as a producer for Kylie Minogue, Gavin Friday and Anni Hogan and remixed for musicians like David Bowie and Erasure.
