Artist in Depth: Dead or Alive (Part 1)

One day in 1977, after rehearsing music with friends, flamboyant Liverpudlian Pete Burns realized his powerful singing voice. Shortly thereafter, he and his friends including Julian Cope and Pete Wylie formed the band The Mystery Girls. However, the band only payed one gig at Eric's in Liverpool. Burns returned though in 1979 to form the post-punk band Nightmares In Wax which released one EP entitled Birth of a Nation after being signed to Eric's Records Label. The EP featured the track "Black Leather" which is not bad, actually.

"...now that I'm old enough to do what I like, I do big heavy muscle boys on motor bikes..."

In 1980, the band was set to record for John Peel of BBC. Just before the session, Burns changed the name of the band to Dead or Alive, which seemed more marketable. After the release of several independent singles, Burns' appearance began to attract more attention and was even compared to Boy George of Culture Club, who appeared on the music scene a few years after Dead or Alive.

The band's early singles and their EP It's Been Hours Now began placing high on the UK Indie Chart in the early 1980s, and "Number Eleven" even peaked at #7 on the chart. Epic Records took notice. They signed the band in 1983 and released "Misty Circles" which charted in the UK at #100 in early June 1983. They also released two other singles, "What I Want" and "I'd Do Anything", that became club hits, but mainstream success still eluded the band. That would change, however, with the release of the band's first full length album Sophisticated Boom Boom.