Dead or Alive (band)
Dead or Alive were an English pop band that released six studio albums from 1984 to 1995. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK top 40 and three albums on the UK top 30. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass) and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989.
"Nightmares in Wax" redirects here. For the DJ, see Nightmares on Wax.
Dead or Alive
Liverpool, England
1980–2018
- Pete Burns
- Martin Healy
- Mike Percy
- Wayne Hussey
- Steve Coy
- Timothy Lever
- Peter Oxendale
- Jason Alburey
- Dean Bright
Two of the band's singles reached the U.S. top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100: "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" (No. 11 in August 1985)[5] and "Brand New Lover" (No. 15 in March 1987).
"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" peaked at number one for two weeks in 1985 in the UK, then charted again in 2006 following Burns' appearance on the television reality show Celebrity Big Brother and on season 4 of Stranger Things.[6] It also became the first of two singles to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. In December 2016, Billboard ranked them as the 96th most successful "dance artist" of all time.[7] Pete Burns died in 2016; with the death of Steve Coy in 2018, the band ended (since no present members remained).
Concerts[edit]
The band toured regularly in the UK in the first half of the 1980s. Their first world tour began in 1987, with dates in Europe, the US, and Japan. Film footage was recorded at two shows at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan on 9 October and at Osaka's Osaka-jō Hall on 11 October 1987, and released on video cassette (VHS) and Laserdisc that same year under the title Rip It Up Live.
The concert was eventually issued as bonus material for the first time on DVD as part of the 2003 compilation release.[35]
A studio version of Rip It Up consisting of the original studio and remix versions of Dead or Alive's best known songs was released on vinyl, cassette and compact disc that same year.
In 1994, Dead or Alive started performing in local night-clubs. Dead or Alive were featured at Gay Pride in Los Angeles in 1995.
Celebrity Big Brother[edit]
In 2006, Pete Burns took part in the TV show Celebrity Big Brother in the UK. Burns became known for openly insulting actress Traci Bingham and performing modern dance with Respect MP George Galloway. Following the end of the show (Burns finished in fifth place), "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" (from 1985's Youthquake album) was re-released.