Soft Cell
The Leeds synth-pop duo of Marc Almond and Dave Ball, whose 1981 album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret holds "Tainted Love" and the UK number four "Bedsitter".
Leeds and Some Bizzare
Soft Cell is an English synth-pop duo from Leeds, Marc Almond on vocals and Dave Ball on keyboards and electronics, who met at Leeds Polytechnic's art school. Wikipedia's text says they formed in 1978 and its category says 1977. Ball described their aim as writing catchy but twisted pop songs, said they saw themselves as electro punks rather than New Romantics, and cited Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. Their first record, the EP Mutant Moments (1980), was funded by a two thousand pound loan from Ball's mother and recorded on a two-track recorder. They signed to Some Bizzare, and the debut single "A Man Could Get Lost" was produced by Daniel Miller in 1981.
"Tainted Love", a cover of Gloria Jones's record written by Ed Cobb, was released on July 17, 1981, reached number one in the UK and sold more than a million copies there, and in the US spent a then-record 43 weeks on the Hot 100, peaking at 8. After "Bedsitter" (November 2, 1981) came "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" (January 1982), "What!" (UK 3) and "Torch" (UK 2), then The Art of Falling Apart (1983, UK top five) and farewell concerts at the Hammersmith Palais in January 1984. This Last Night in Sodom followed in 1984.
Reunions
They reunited in 2000 and 2001, made Cruelty Without Beauty (2002), The Bedsit Tapes and Demo Non Stop (2005) and the remix album Heat (2008), and returned in 2018 with an O2 Arena show in London on September 30, billed as the last UK show as a duo. A 40th anniversary tour of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret ran in November 2021, including Hammersmith Apollo on November 16, and the album Happiness Not Included appeared in May 2022. Their last concert with Ball was the Rewind Festival on August 16, 2025. Dave Ball died on October 22, 2025, aged 66, two days after finishing their final album, Danceteria, scheduled for September 25, 2026; Marc Almond says it ends new Soft Cell studio music.
Official Charts credits them with 14 top 75 singles and 13 top 75 albums in the UK, and Wikipedia says more than ten million records sold. Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Charli XCX and Nine Inch Nails are cited as influenced, and David Gray, Coil and Nine Inch Nails have covered them. Ball also co-founded the techno duo The Grid.
Albums
- Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret 1981 · Some Bizzare
Their debut album: ten tracks recorded largely at Mediasound in New York, with "Tainted Love" and "Bedsitter".
Songs
- Bedsitter Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret · 1981
The second single from Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, a UK number four about a bored Sunday alone in a bedsit.
- Say Hello, Wave Goodbye Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret · 1982
The closing track of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, released as a single in January 1982 and a UK number 3.
Sources
- Soft Cell, Wikipedia
- Soft Cell, Soft Cell
- Soft Cell chart history, Official Charts Company
- Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, Wikipedia