Marc Almond has admitted the last gigs he played with his late Soft Cell bandmate Dave Ball were “quite depressing to do”.
Ball was just 66 when he died in October 2025, but had become “very despondent” in the months leading up to his eventual passing.
Marc spoke to The Quietus about the difficult period, as he said: “Dave was in very bad shape. The worst I’d ever seen him. They [the last gigs] were quite depressing to do.”
On occasion, Marc’s long-time collaborator Philip Larsen stepped in to take over from Dave when he was unable to perform, with the singer admitting: “When he wasn’t there, it felt like we could just celebrate the music.”
Despite Marc’s comments, he went on to insist that “it was all about making it Dave’s thing” in the final years of his life, “keeping him creative, keeping him well, keeping him going”.
And the admiration was mutual, as Marc said: “I always loved the music he gave me, and he always said he loved what I gave him back. Even though I know he probably rolled his eyes a few times, perhaps he thought things were a bit too gay.
“He was always very gracious, saying ‘that’s great, so good, the best thing you’ve done’. He always believed 100 per cent in my ideas.”
The mutual respect between the pair also meant that they “never fell out once” in almost 50 years of working together.
In fact, Marc said the only reason Soft Cell split in 1984 was because they had different priorities – Marc with his desire to keep touring and Dave with his dedication to his studio work.
He explained: “We never saw a lot of each other. We were never close friends. We had a kind of… affectionate and respectful working relationship.
“When we got together, we liked the same things, we laughed about the same things, but we never had a serious conversation about anything. We never knew how each other felt about anything.”