Dave Ball, one half of ‘Tainted Love’ duo Soft Cell, dies weeks after headlining music festival

WASHINGTON — Dave Ball, one half of the English electronic music duo Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.

Ball passed away peacefully in his sleep at his London home on Oct. 22, according to an announcement on the band’s website.

Singer Marc Almond, Dave’s musical collaborator of nearly 50 years and Soft Cell bandmate, paid tribute to the “wonderfully brilliant musical genius.” 

Soft Cell was best known for their 1981 hit “Tainted Love,” which topped the charts in 18 countries around the world and was Britain’s best-selling single of that year, the band said. 

While a cause of death was not given, Almond said in his tribute that Ball had been “ill for a long while and his health had been in slow decline over recent years” but he always came back with a determined spirit to continue work in the studio and occasionally perform in the U.K. 

Ball’s death comes just weeks after he appeared with the band for a headlining gig at the Rewind Festival in August. During that concert, Ball performed in a wheelchair. 

According to the BBC, Ball previously fractured lower vertebrae in his spine and cracked about five ribs and broke his wrist during a fall down stairs. According to the outlet, after catching pneumonia and developing sepsis, he was then placed in an induced coma and remained hospitalized for seven months.

“It is most heartbreaking, particularly at this time, that Dave was in a great place emotionally, feeling focused and happy with the new album, Danceteria, that we literally had only just completed days ago,” Almond wrote. “I listened to the complete album for the first time yesterday. It makes me so sad as this would have been a great uplifting year for him and I can take solace that he heard this finished record and felt it was a great piece of work. Dave’s music is better than ever – his tunes, his hooks unmistakably Soft Cell. Yet he always took it to a different level.”