Dave Ball, a producer and one half of the English synth-pop duo Soft Cell, whose 1981 single “Tainted Love” became one of the defining hits of the new wave era, has died at his home in London. He was 66.
Marc Almond, Mr. Ball’s musical partner in Soft Cell, announced his death on Thursday. A cause was not given, but Mr. Almond said in a statement posted online that Mr. Ball had been “ill for a long while and his health had been in slow decline over recent years.” Mr. Almond said he died on Tuesday, while the band’s website said he died on Wednesday.
Mr. Ball formed Soft Cell with Mr. Almond in 1979 when they were both students at Leeds Polytechnic, now Leeds Beckett University, in England. Mr. Almond was a year ahead of Mr. Ball.
“He had heard me making bleepy noises on a synthesizer and asked me to do music for his performances,” Mr. Ball told The Guardian in 2017. “These grew into proper songs.”
“Everyone in Leeds was into doom-laden stuff, but we wanted to do something more uplifting,” he said.
The band’s 1981 debut album, “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret,” included the hit single “Tainted Love,” a cover of a song originally recorded by Gloria Jones. The song was a smashing success in Britain, where it was certified as the best-selling single of 1981, and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 100 singles chart in the summer of 1982.
The band split in 1984, but reunited several times for tours and to record new music.
Mr. Almond, who called Mr. Ball “the heart of Soft Cell,” wrote on Thursday that despite his partner’s health struggles, “he always came back with a determined spirit to continue his work in the studio.”
“I’m proud of our legacy, and taking those breaks apart always kept the public interest going,” Mr. Almond wrote. “We weren’t around too much for people to get too tired of us.”
Mr. Ball addressed the band’s long breaks in an interview with The Guardian in 2023, describing his working relationship with Mr. Almond as “a musical friendship, not a musical marriage.”
“We’re friends, but not friends that go, ‘Oh, hi, do you fancy going for a meal or a drink?’” he said. “We have long breaks, don’t do anything together, then say, ‘Fancy doing some more?’ It seems to work out. We have a good creative and professional relationship, but we don’t live in each other’s pockets.”
David James Ball was born in Chester, England, on May 3, 1959, and was adopted as an infant by Donald and Brenda Ball. They changed his original given name to David from Paul and raised him with his adopted sister, Susan, in Blackpool.
Growing up as an adopted child had an influence on his sense of self, he told The Quietus in 2020.
“I’ve always been a bit of an outsider,” he said. “In my teens, I was terribly shy. I was quite happy to lock myself away.”
David developed an interest in music in school, first learning to play guitar. But he switched to the synthesizer after hearing “Autobahn” by Kraftwerk. “I first had a go on a synthesizer in about 1972,” he told The Quietus, “but when I heard Kraftwerk in 1975 when ‘Autobahn’ came out, that’s the turning point.”
During a break from Soft Cell in 1988, Mr. Ball created the electronic dance music duo the Grid, alongside the musician and producer Richard Norris. They had a string of successes in the 1990s, including the 1994 global hit “Swamp Thing.”
Mr. Ball also worked as a songwriter, producer and remixer with some of the most influential artists of the past few decades, including David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure.
His had four children. Complete information on his survivors was not immediately available.
Soft Cell’s sixth and final studio album, “Danceteria,” named after the 1980s New York nightclub, was completed days before Mr. Ball’s death, according to a statement on the band’s website. It is set to be released in spring 2026.
“In full tribute to Dave and his recent purple patch of songwriting and production, Soft Cell’s upcoming releases will remain as scheduled,” the statement said.
Mr. Ball’s last big stage appearance was in August at the Rewind Festival near Henley-on-Thames, England, where the duo headlined to a crowd of more than 20,000 people.
After that performance, according to Mr. Almond, Mr. Ball “was elated and given an enormous boost.”
Aimee Ortiz covers breaking news and other topics.
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