It’s come as quite a shock this afternoon to learn of the passing of Dave Ball of Soft Cell fame yesterday in his sleep.
As far as I can recall, Soft Cell only performed live in Brighton on one occasion and thankfully I was there. This was at The Event venue at the bottom of West Street, which down the years has also been know as the Top Rank Suite and PRYZM. Their concert took place 24 years ago on Wednesday 24th October 2001 and I can even remember where I saw standing and dancing!
The standout track of that evening for myself was tune ten which was ‘Somebody, Somewhere, Sometime’. The full setlist that evening was: ‘Memorabilia’, ‘Monoculture’, ‘Heat’, ‘Divided Soul’, ‘Last Chance’, ‘Youth’, ‘God Shaped Hole’, ‘The Best Way To Kill’, ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’, ‘Somebody, Somewhere, Sometime’, ‘Torch’, ‘Bedsitter’, ‘Tainted Love’ / ‘Where Did Our Love Go’, ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’, (encore) ‘Martin’ and ‘Sex Dwarf’.
Thankfully we did actually get to review Soft Cell for Brighton & Hove News, when we went up to London to catch their Hammersmith Apollo show on 15th November 2021 – Read our account HERE.
Marc Almond’s official announcement is shown below – RIP Dave x:
Dear Soft Cell fans
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 on Tuesday night. 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.
We agreed to extend the Soft Cell family and he was always behind shows and festivals where he wasn’t able to appear, he always had presence, his live role being taken by Philip Larsen, his co producer and friend, but it was Dave’s music and preparation that was still at the heart of it and what audiences were hearing, Dave and Philip working closely together. Dave encouraged us to take the music out with his blessing.
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. 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.
The pair of us have been on a journey together heading on for 50 years with ups and downs, successes and failures, though to us it was never failure, just all part of the adventure, and it was one hell of an adventure. We were very obnoxious and difficult in the early days, two belligerent art students wanting to do things our way even if it was the wrong way. We were naive and we made mistakes. We have always been a bit ‘chalk and cheese’ as they say but that’s maybe why the chemistry worked so well. When we came back together after long periods there was always the warmth and chemistry, deep respect for each other that gave a strength to our song writing together. We laughed a lot and shared a sense of humour and a love of films and books and, of course, music. Dave had piles of books that he read his way through, and wonderful and surprising musical references. He really was the heart of Soft Cell, I always really thought it was his baby. Whatever it was it just worked and I’m proud of our legacy and taking those breaks apart always kept the public interest going, we weren’t around too much for people to get too tired of us.
It’s fitting in many ways that the next (and now the last) album together is called Danceteria as the theme takes us for a visit back to almost the start of it all, back to New York in the early 80’s, the place and time that really shaped us. We always felt we were an honorary American band as well as quintisentially British. We have always been self referential to the Soft Cell story and myths and this album in many ways will close that circle for us.
I wish he could have stayed on to celebrate 50 years in a couple of years time. He will always be loved by fans who loved his music. It’s a cliche to say but it lives on and somewhere at any given time around the world someone listens to, plays, dances, and get’s pleasure from a Soft Cell song – even if it’s just that particular two and half minute epic.
My thoughts are with his family at this time.
Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.
Marc Almond, October 2025
