Dave Ball, known for the synthpop band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
Dave Ball is dead. PDO
Musician and music producer David “Dave” Ball is dead, reports The Guardian.
Ball was 66 years old. The musician’s representatives tell The Guardian that Ball slept off at his home in London on Wednesday.
The cause of death has not been made public.
Ball was especially known as the second member of the synthpop duo Soft Cell. The group is remembered, among other things, for their hit version of the song originally performed by Gloria Jones Tainted Love (1981).
Daily Mail says that the musician fell ill with pneumonia and blood poisoning a couple of years ago. He was kept in an artificial coma for seven months. For the last two years of his life, Ball moved around with the help of a wheelchair.
Dave Ball and Marc Almond formed the duo Soft Cell. PDO
Another member of Soft Cell Marc Almond68, shared the writing in memory of his late friend.
– He was a wonderfully brilliant musical genius. Thank you Dave for being an integral part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn’t be where I am without you,” Almond wrote.
David Ball was born in 1959 in Chester. Ball’s single mother named him Paul. However, the child was adopted in Blackpool, where he spent his childhood. Ball met his future bandmate Almond at Leeds Polytechnic.
Dave Ball spent the last years of his life in a wheelchair. PDO
The Soft Cell band was in force between 1978 and 1984. The band made a comeback in 2001 and again in 2018. The band’s latest album Happiness Now Completed appeared last year.
Almond says that the duo had just finished their latest album.
– Dave is doing so well emotionally. He was focused and happy about our album, which we finished just a few days ago. It’s sad that 2026 was supposed to be an uplifting year for him. I take solace in the fact that he heard the finished album and felt it was well done.
According to the Daily Mail, Soft Cell’s last appearance was two months ago at the Rewind Festival in England.
In addition to Soft Cell, Dave Ball was active in the bands Other People and The Grid, among others.