Dave Ball, the instrumentalist in the synth-pop duo Soft Cell, who enjoyed a massive worldwide hit with their 1981 cover of Gloria Jones’ song “Tainted Love,” has died, according to the BBC . No specific cause of death was cited, although he suffered serious health complications after a back injury; he was 66.

While fronted by flamboyant singer Marc Almond, Ball — pictured above, left, in the early 1980s — created virtually all of the duo’s music, which included hits with original songs like “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” and “Bedsitter” and their debut album, “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.” Soft Cell were among the first widely popular synth-pop groups, creating music nearly entirely with electronics — a relative rarity in the early ‘80s that, powered by the rise of MTV, quickly became commo

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