Dave Ball, a producer and one half of the English synth-pop duo Soft Cell, whose 1981 single "Tainted Love" became one of the defining hits of the new wave era, has died at his home in London. He was 66.

Marc Almond, Ball's musical partner in Soft Cell, announced his death Thursday. A cause was not given, but Almond said in a statement posted online that Ball had been "ill for a long while and his health had been in slow decline over recent years." Almond said he died Tuesday, while the band's website said he died Wednesday.

Ball formed Soft Cell with Almond in 1979 when they were both students at Leeds Polytechnic, now Leeds Beckett University, in England. Almond was a year ahead of Ball.

"He had heard me making bleepy noises on a synthesizer and asked me to do music for his performanc

See Full Page