Genuinely gutted about this - a real synth pioneer, his creativity, personality and appearance were a great foil for Marc Almond's flamboyant, emotive vocals and stage presence. 

Soft Cell helped pave the way for the likes of Pet Shop Boys and Erasure and parts of Pulp's DNA is definitely apparent in Almond's dramatics of the every day, tales of grim sexuality and vocal yelps but also within Ball's soaring melodies, nagging keyboard stabs, tinny toytown sounds and grandiose electronic swoops. 

A lovely chap by all accounts too. He had been suffering with his health for a few years, and,  consigned to a wheelchair after a fall down some stairs, rarely appeared live during Soft Cell's comeback over the last few years. But 66 is no age these days. In, I guess, a poetic sense of finality, they had just finished mixing the final Soft Cell album, due next year and titled Danceteria, the famous American nightclub, where they spent a lot of time in the wake of their early 80s success, consuming the latest NY sounds (and substances).