The synth-pop producer behind 1980s hit ‘Tainted Love’

As one half of English duo Soft Cell, he topped the U.K. charts with Marc Almond.

- MIKAEL WOOD POP MUSIC CRITIC

EXPERIMENTAL DUO Soft Cell's David Ball, right, with Marc Almond in 1981. Ball's sexy production of the Gloria Jones song "Tainted Love" helped take the single to the top of the charts that same year. The two had recently performed in England and have a forthcoming LP.

(FIN COSTELLO Redferns)

David Ball of Soft Cell, whose delectably sleazy synth-pop arrangement drove that English duo’s 1981 hit “Tainted Love” to the top of the U.K. singles chart, died Wednesday. He was 66.

The producer’s death was announced in a post on Soft Cell’s website, which didn’t state a cause but said that Ball died at his home in London. On Facebook, the duo’s singer, Marc Almond, wrote that Ball’s health “had been in slow decline over recent years” due to an unspecified illness.