Artist News Obituaries

Pete Burns dies

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 25 October 2016

Dead Or Alive frontman Pete Burns died on Sunday, following a heart attack, it was announced in a statement yesterday. He was 57.

“It is with the greatest sadness that we have to break the tragic news that
our beloved Pete Burns of Dead Or Alive died suddenly yesterday of a
massive cardiac arrest”, says the statement, signed by Burns’ manager and former bandmate Steve Coy, ex-wife Lynne Corlett, and ex-husband Michael Simpson.

“All of his family and friends are devastated by the loss of our special star”, they continue. “He was a true visionary, a beautiful talented soul, and he will missed by all who loved and appreciated everything he was and all of the wonderful memories he has left with us”.

Burns formed Dead Of Alive in 1980, scoring a minor hit with a cover of KC And The Sunshine Band’s ‘That’s The Way (I Like It)’ in 1984. They went on to release the band’s best known single, ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’, the following year. Produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman, the song went to number one in the UK singles chart, as well as finding success worldwide.

He continued to record and perform under the name up to the present day. Burns’ last single, ‘Never Marry An Icon’, was released in 2010, and his last major performance was at Pete Waterman’s ‘Hit Factory Live’ show at the O2 Arena in 2012.

To modern audiences, he was perhaps best known for his appearances on reality TV, particularly the 2006 series of ‘Celebrity Big Brother’.

He was also known for his appearance, created through more than 300 cosmetic surgeries. He almost died on the operating table in 2006, while undergoing a procedure on his nose, and was left bankrupt in 2014 after having to pay for corrective surgery on his lips after another operation went wrong.