Dave Ball is an English producer and electronic musician, who is one half of the legendary synth pop duo Soft Cell (alongside Marc Almond), as well as the successful electronic dance group The Grid, alongside other core member Richard Norris.
After a chance meeting at Leeds Polytechnic in 1978, Ball formed Soft Cell with Marc Almond. The duo defined by the dynamic between the dramatically expressive Almond and the quiet but menacing Ball, became one of the defining bands of the 1980s, whose influence is still felt to this day.
In their short five-year career, they delivered the immediate synthpop classic Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981), its dancefloor-oriented sister album Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing (1982), the darker The Art Of Falling Apart (1983), and the experimental and uncompromising farewell, This Last Night In Sodom (1984), accidentally invented Acid House half a decade early with their debut single “Memorabilia”, and racked up a string of hits including “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”, “Torch”, “Bedsitter” and, most famously, an instantly addictive minimalist reworking of “Tainted Love” which was the UK’s biggest-selling single of 1981, broke the record for longevity on the Billboard charts, and sold well over a million copies.
After Soft Cell disbanded Ball released the solo album, ‘In Strict Tempo’ (1983), featuring guest appearances from Genesis P Orridge of Psychic TV, Virginia Astley, and Gavin Friday (The Virgin Prunes); and later became a part-time touring member of Psychic TV, “just to keep my hand in”, a collaboration which would directly lead to Dave’s next big success.
Ball’s next major collaboration was with Richard Norris with the formation of
the techno duo The Grid in 1988. The Grid became mainstays of the rave scene, and with singles like “Flotation”, “Crystal Clear”, “Texas Cowboys”, and “Swamp Thing” (immortalised in John Waters’ Pecker), The Grid became Nineties chart regulars, and released five acclaimed albums, making the Top 20 with 1994’s Evolver.
In 1994, under the guise of The Grid, Ball scored a huge international hit as producer of Billie Ray Martin’s “Your Loving Arms”. In 1997, with new collaborator Ingo Vauk, he wrote and produced three songs on Kylie Minogue’s Impossible Princess album, including the Top 20 single “Breathe”.
Ball’s skills as a remixer have also been sought by a string of top-level artists, including The B-52’s, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys and David Bowie, whose “Hallo Spaceboy” was given the Ball & Vauk treatment.
Even during periods of inactivity for his two most celebrated acts, Ball has kept busy, whether as a member of electro-rock quartet Nitewreckage, DJing at Northern Soul nights, reconnecting with Gavin Friday on a Suicide covers project, collaborating with synth musician Jon Savage on the album Photosynthesis, or remixing brand new glam/alternative upstarts HMLTD.
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