Soft Cell Keyboardist Dave Ball, of ‘Tainted Love’ Fame, Dead at 66

Dave Ball — one half of the 1980s New Wave pop group Soft Cell — has died at age 66, according to the band’s official website.

Ball was the synthesizer-keyboardist and Marc Almond was the singer of the group that recorded the iconic 1981 track “Tainted Love” … a massive hit, which was actually a cover.

Ball died in his sleep at home in London Wednesday. He’d recently played a show with Soft Cell, just weeks earlier … he was in a wheelchair at the time.

The group’s website posted a statement and a series of tributes to Ball following his death.

Ball had been recovering from a fractured vertebrae and broken ribs about 3 years ago when he caught pneumonia, and sepsis followed … he was put in an induced coma for seven months, BBC News reports. But he was in good spirits recently, reportedly hard at work on a new album with Almond before he died.

The group produced five studio albums — releasing “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” in 1981, “The Art of Falling Apart” in 1983, and “This Last Night in Sodom” in 1984 … they reunited to release two more records, in 2002 and 2022 … and their newest album was reportedly in progress when Ball died.

Ball also cofounded the 1990s techno group The Grid.

He was 66.