The death of Dave Ballfifty percent of Soft Cellwithout a doubt one of the most influential duos in the history of British synth pop. He was sixty-six years old.
Dave Ball –on the left in the photograph– was one of the essential names of the British electronic pop scene, influencing various generations. He shared the spotlight in Soft Cell with another great artist, Marc Almondwithout a doubt another reference of the genre. Together they rose to fame with their version of “Tainted Love” by Gloria Jones in a synth pop key, without a doubt one of those timeless hits that have gone down in history and has reached various generations of audiences.
Ball and Almond started Soft Cell in 1979 and debuted in 1981 with “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret”which included some of his most popular songs. Since then they have been separating and reuniting over the years, with both musicians immersing themselves in other projects such as The Grid (Ball) and his solo career (Almond). Ball was also a producer for many artists such as The Virgin Prunes or even published a solo work. Together they have released five studio albums, with “Happiness Not Included” (22) as the latest release so far.
The cause of death was a long illness that he had suffered for years, which did not prevent him from performing concerts recently (in August of this same year) or from finishing what should have been his sixth full-length album. “Dancetry”by the duo and we hope it will see the light of day in 2026.
