"Tainted Love" Artist Dave Ball Dies at 66 — What Was the Cause of Death?

Music fans are mourning the loss of Soft Cell artist Dave Ball. The musician died at the age of 66 on Oct. 22, 2025, following a long illness.

Dave was an iconic artist whose cover of Gloria Jones's song "Tainted Love" dominated the radio in the 1980s and became a smash hit. As the world learns of his untimely passing, fans want to know what caused the synth player's death.

Dave's cause of death hasn't been publicly announced, but according to his bandmate and the other half of Soft Cell, Marc Almond, he had been "ill for a long while and his health had been in slow decline over recent years." Pink News reports that in 2022, Dave was diagnosed with pneumonia and sepsis after a fall, and he was placed in an induced coma. According to The BBC, Dave was in a coma for seven months, and his Instagram page also noted that he'd been receiving physiotherapy treatments.

Back in 2023, Dave spoke about the fall to The Yorkshire Post.

"I fractured lower vertebrae in my spine and cracked about five ribs and broke my wrist," he said. "I managed to damage myself quite a bit."

Dave died just weeks after performing a show with Soft Cell at the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames. Marc gave a moving tribute to his bandmate on his website.

"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," he wrote, in part. He also noted that the group had just completed an album days before Dave's death.

"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," he continued. "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."

Marc also spoke of his and Dave's adventures over the last nearly 50 years, including their early days in New York City and their "obnoxious and difficult" early days, and their shared "sense of humor."

"He really was the heart of Soft Cell," he noted. "I always really thought it was his baby."

"My thoughts are with his family at this time," he concluded. "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."

Soft Cell's album "Danceteria" is scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2026.