The talented musician, a key member of the groundbreaking 1980s synth-pop band Soft Cell, has passed away at the age of 66.
Together with vocalist Marc Almond, the team scored a global success with their cover of Gloria Jones' Tainted Love in 1984, and their first record 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 rest at his home in London on Wednesday 22 October, just weeks after playing a featured performance with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in the Thames-side town.
Health Struggles
During that performance, Ball appeared in a mobility chair, as he had for the previous couple of years, after a period of ill-health.
"I managed to injure myself quite a bit," he stated in 2023. "I broke spinal bones in my back and cracked about multiple ribs and fractured my arm."
After catching pneumonia and developing blood poisoning, he was put in an induced coma and remained in the hospital for seven months.
Nevertheless, he had been in "high spirits emotionally" over the warmer months, as he was developing a new album with Almond, called Danceteria, which is set for publication in the coming year.
"He was concentrated and very pleased with the latest project that we actually finished only a few days ago," said the vocalist in a heartfelt message.
"It's truly heartbreaking as next year was completely planned to be such an positive year for him, and I find comfort from the fact that he heard the finished record and felt that it was a masterpiece."
Heartfelt Messages
Almond referred to his collaborator as "an exceptionally talented musical genius", stating: "He was the heart and soul of Soft Cell and I'm extremely pleased of our body of work.
"Many thanks Dave for being an immense part of my life 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 "unwavering friendship".
"Forming a duo with someone is different from joining a group, the connection is very tight," he continued.
"That was the case with us. We experienced so many extraordinary, extraordinary, life-affirming moments together. Many thanks, Dave."
Early Life
Born into a one-parent family in Chester in the late 50s, Ball was given up for adoption when he was a year and a half old.
He grew up in the seaside town with adoptive parents his caregivers, who changed his given name from his birth name to David, alongside his sibling his sister, who was similarly welcomed.
He encountered Almond at an art college in the late 70s, where they were both studying fine arts. Fuelled by a mutual passion of Northern Soul, they established Soft Cell the same year, and promptly recorded an EP.
Creative Collaboration
The duo were an distinctive combination: Ball was the quiet technician, hunched over his keyboard, while Almond was a flamboyant showman, all glitter and makeup; but they attained a unique creative synergy.
Ball had cultivated a fascination with synthesizers after viewing the band Kraftwerk appear on a television science show a popular series, and started to marry moody electronic sounds to the catchy tunes Almond was composing.
Tainted Love became the UK's second biggest-selling single of the early 80s, shifting 21 million units worldwide. Together with successful tracks by Gary Numan, contemporary bands and Ultravox, it contributed to cleared the path for the electronic music style of the 80s.
The track was also featured on their first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which produced two further high-charting hits: Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
They continued the album up with the separate release, Torch, which reached at number two in the following year.
Professional Journey
Success had its benefits. "I loved being able to afford my first home, having financial security and travelling, which makes me sound like a beauty queen," Ball recently told with a publication.
But it also presented problems. "Newfound wealth meant we could afford newfound drugs to alleviate the boredom" of media interviews and television shows, Ball said.
"I realize that's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a good reason, because it works for so many musicians."
During the hedonistic lifestyle, the duo were also drifting apart, but they succeeded to produce a second classic album - the wayward, edgy and aptly-titled The Art Of Falling Apart.
They released one more LP, 1984's This Last Night In Sodom, before dissolving the group to concentrate on individual endeavors.
Almond went on to have a successful solo career, including the chart-topping single Something's Got A Hold Of My Heart; while Ball formed The Grid, who mixed acid house with ambient pop over a long-lasting collaboration.
Reunions and Final Projects
Soft Cell reunited in the early 2000s, producing the charting album Cruelty Without Beauty.
After another break, they returned in 2018, releasing the original singles Northern Lights and Guilty (Cos I Say You Are) before staging what was supposed to be a final performance at the large venue on September 30, 2018.
Yet, they stayed active, creating their fifth album, Happiness Not Included, during the 2020 restrictions.
Ball lately characterized 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 hospital had shaped the band's sound.
"I had strange recollections when I was in and out of hospital because I was on morphine," he explained to a publication.
"The new songs are a digital reflection of the sounds in my mind from that time.
"In parallel, it's about the experiences me and Marc got up to in the 1980s."
The last versions were completed only a short time before Ball died. It is due for release in Spring 2026.
