Dave Ball dead: Soft Cell legend dies as devastated bandmate pays tribute to 'genius'

Soft Cell legend Dave Ball has died at the age of 66 following years of ill health. The group are most famous for their 1981 hit Tainted Love. The news was confirmed in a lengthy social media post by his bandmate Marc Almond. "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," he wrote.

He went on to say it was "most heartbreaking" explaining Dave had been in "a great place emotionally" as the band had just finished work on their new album Danceteria.

"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," Marc penned.

"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," he continued.

This is a breaking showbiz story, the Express Showbiz team will be updating this story with the latest information as soon as we receive it. For further updates, please refresh the page

_You can also get email updates on the day's biggest TV stories straight to your inbox by _signing up for our newsletters.

_Get all the very best headlines, pictures, opinion and video on the day's top showbiz stories by following _Express.co.uk every time you see our name.

• Follow Express on Google News - CLICK HERE

• Follow Express on Apple News -_ CLICK HERE__ available on Apple devices_

• _Follow Express on _Flipboard - CLICK HERE and click follow

You can also sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news and all the latest updates by following @Daily_Express_, or for the latest TV and showbiz news, follow _@expressceleb

_Keep up-to-date with your must-see TV stories, features, videos and pictures throughout the day by following us on Facebook at _Express Celebrity