Photo: User:Mathew Street / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
Pete Burns was a singer, composer and singer-songwriter, born on August 5, 1959 in Port Sunlight, United Kingdom. Death is recorded on October 23, 2016, at the age of 57. Pete Burns was educated at Bebington High School and Hugh Baird College.
My Take
Pete Burns was one of those rare artists who made you feel like the whole world was dull without them — a lightning bolt of androgynous glamour and sheer audacity who never let anyone put him in a box. As the frontman of Dead or Alive, he gave us "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" in 1985, a track so relentlessly euphoric it still sounds like it was built to outlast everything. But beyond the hit, what I loved about Pete was his defiant self-invention: the beauty spot, the wild wardrobe, the refusal to apologize for any of it, decades before that kind of fearlessness became fashionable. He was also genuinely funny and sharp in interviews, which so few pop provocateurs actually are. Losing him in October 2016 felt abrupt and wrong — the world still needed that energy.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Pete Burns
- Name (Japanese)
- ピート・バーンズ
- Reading
- ぴーと・ばーんず
- Born
- August 5, 1959 – October 23, 2016
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Boar
- Origin
- Port Sunlight, United Kingdom
- Occupation
- singer / composer / singer-songwriter / autobiographer / musician
2. Background
- High school
- Bebington High School
- University
- Hugh Baird College
3. Links
4. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was Pete Burns born?
Born August 5, 1959.
When did Pete Burns die?
Died October 23, 2016, aged 57.
Where was Pete Burns from?
Pete Burns was from Port Sunlight, United Kingdom.
What did Pete Burns do?
Pete Burns worked as singer, composer, singer-songwriter, autobiographer, musician.
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