Soft Cell’s Dave Ball died last week.

I never much took to the band mainly because Marc Almond’s posturing annoyed me. But Ball was a different prospect. Like Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys he appeared to prefer staying in the background quietly playing his synths.

However, they had a significant run of hit singles spanning 1981 and 82, with a distinctive sound.

Here’s a Top of the Pops appearance from that second year.

Soft Cell:- Torch

David James (Dave) Ball: 3/5/1959 – 22/10/2025. So it goes.

The second of Dusty’s collaborations with the Pet Shop Boys (after What Have I Done to Deserve This?) but this one doesn’t really feature them except as writers and producers. On the face of it a song about the Profumo affair would perhaps have been an unlikely hit except it of course appeared over the end credits of the film Scandal.

Dusty Springfield: Nothing Has Been Proved