Electronic Music Pioneer And Soft Cell Co-Founder Dave Ball Dies Aged 66
Thursday, 23 October 2025
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Mike Owen
Dave Ball, electronic music pioneer and Soft Cell co-founder, has died aged 66.
A representative for the musician and producer revealed he had "passed away peacefully in his sleep at his London home" yesterday (October 22), with Soft Cell frontman and his bandmate of 46 years, Marc Almond, paying tribute, calling him a "wonderfully brilliant musical genius." Posting a statement on his website, Almond wrote:
"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... 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.
"Yet he always came back with a determined spirit to continue his work in the studio and, although he has been unable to travel abroad, he has still been able to perform with me as Soft Cell on occasions in the UK. His last appearance was at the Rewind festival a few weeks ago, where we headlined to over 20,000 people, after which he was elated and given an enormous boost."
Almond also revealed that the pair had just completed work on a new album titled 'Danceteria', which will now be their final album together. It's due out next spring through a new deal with Republic of Music.
Formed by Almond and Ball in 1979 while studying art in Leeds, Soft Cell reshaped '80s pop with their 1981 debut album, 'Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret'. Their huge hit Tainted Love topped charts worldwide and became the UK's best-selling single of '81, entering the Guinness Book Of Records for spending a record breaking 43 weeks on the US Billboard chart.
Soft Cell have released five official studio albums to date, the latest being 2022's 'Happiness Not Included', which was followed by the release of two expanded editions.
A super deluxe reissue of their 1983 album 'The Art Of Falling Apart' and a 6CD box set with new remixes and dubs by Ball, including a 'Martin' EP, are both set to arrive next Friday (October 31) via Universal Music and Republic of Music respectively.
Outside Soft Cell, Ball was half of The Grid alongside producer Richard Norris, with whom he achieved chart success in the '90s with a number of singles, including the hit Swamp Thing.
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
