A musician behind one of the biggest hits of the 1980s is dead at age 66.

Dave Ball, one-half of the synth-pop duo Soft Cell, died Wednesday, according to bandmate Marc Almond. The BBC reports Ball died in his sleep of natural causes, weeks after performing a concert in a wheelchair.

“He will always be loved by the Soft Cell fans who love his music and his music and memory will live on,” Almond, the lead singer of Soft Cell, said in a statement. “At any given moment, someone somewhere in the world will be getting pleasure from a Soft Cell song. Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.”

Ball and Almond formed Soft Cell in the late ‘70s, scoring a dozen top 40 hits in their native United Kingdom with songs l

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