Pete Burns

Peter Jozzeppi Burns (5 August 1959 – 23 October 2016) was an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He was best known as the lead vocalist of the new wave band Dead or Alive, which he formed in 1980. Over the course of his career, the band sold over 17 million albums and 36 million singles worldwide. Burns was widely recognized for his powerful baritone voice, flamboyant dress style, eyepatch, androgynous appearance, cosmetic surgeries, and appearances on reality television.

Burns was born in Port Sunlight, Wirral, as the younger of two children. His mother was born in Heidelberg, Germany, and later escaped to Vienna, where she met his father, an English soldier from Liverpool. Raised speaking exclusively German until the age of five, Burns had a solitary childhood where he preferred drawing and painting to interacting with peers. He developed an early fascination with fashion and costumes, but faced endless taunting at school, eventually dropping out at age 14 due to his unconventional appearance.

Before finding mainstream success, Burns worked as a fashion designer, owned a small clothes shop in Liverpool, and served as a shop assistant at Probe Records between 1977 and 1984. In 1977, he co-founded the short-lived punk group The Mystery Girls, followed by the gothic post-punk band Nightmares in Wax in 1979. Nightmares in Wax released the three-track EP Birth of a Nation in 1980 before undergoing lineup changes and renaming themselves Dead or Alive.

Dead or Alive gained early popularity on the UK Indie Chart before signing with major label Epic Records in 1983. Their 1984 debut album, Sophisticated Boom Boom, yielded their first UK Top 40 single, a cover of KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)". The group achieved international breakthrough success with their 1985 album Youthquake, produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. The album feature the hit single "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", which became Dead or Alive's first UK No. 1 single and reached No. 11 in the United States.

During his musical career, Dead or Alive achieved seven UK Top 40 singles, two US Top 20 singles, and two No. 1 hits on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Beyond the band, Burns released music as a solo artist, collaborated with other musicians, and became a prominent television personality. His appearance on Celebrity Big Brother 4, where he finished in fifth place, drew significant public and media attention in the United Kingdom.

Burns came to be regarded as a gay icon who helped introduce gay music into mainstream culture, although he avoided applying labels to himself. In 2016, Billboard magazine listed Dead or Alive among the most successful dance artists of all time. Burns passed away on 23 October 2016 at the age of 57.