Dead or Alive were an English pop band formed in 1980 in Liverpool. The band found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums on the UK Top 30. They were the first band under the production team of Stock Aitken Waterman to have a number-one single. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Mike Percy (bass), Steve Coy (drums) and Tim Lever (keyboards).
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 1985) and "Brand New Lover" (No. 15 in 1986).
"You Spin Me Round" peaked at number one for two weeks in 1985 in the UK, then charted again in 2006 following Burns's appearance on the television reality show Celebrity Big Brother. It also became the first of two singles to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked them as the 96th most successful "dance artist" of all-time. As of 2017 Dead or Alive has sold over 30 million albums and 28 million singles worldwide.The band was discontinued following Pete Burns' death in 2016.
Formation and early career of band
In 1977, Burns formed a band with contemporaries Julian Cope, Pete Wylie, and Phil Hurst, calling themselves The Mystery Girls. They played only one gig (opening for Sham 69 at Eric's in Liverpool in November 1977) before disintegrating.Burns returned in early 1979 with a new band, Nightmares in Wax (original name: 'Rainbows Over Nagasaki'), featuring a gothic post-punk sound, with backing from keyboardist Martin Healy, guitarist Mick Reid (ex-Crash Course and Glass Torpedoes), bassist Rob Jones, who left soon afterwards to be replaced by Walter Ogden, and drummer Paul Hornby, formerly of 051 and Pink Military, who also exited soon after the band's formation to be replaced by Phil Hurst.Nightmares in Wax played their first gig supporting Wire at Eric's in July 1979,and, around the same time, recorded demos which included a cover of the Simon Dupree song "Kites", a feature of their early shows. Although signed to the Eric's Records label, their only release, a three-track 7" EP entitled Birth of a Nation, appeared in March 1980 on Inevitable Records. A 12-inch single featuring two of the tracks from the EP, "Black Leather" and "Shangri-La", was released in 1985.The EP featured "Black Leather", which halfway through turned into K.C. & the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)" (a song later revived by Dead or Alive).
Dead or Alive were an English pop band formed in 1980 in Liverpool. The band found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums on the UK Top 30. They were the first band under the production team of Stock Aitken Waterman to have a number-one single. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Mike Percy (bass), Steve Coy (drums) and Tim Lever (keyboards).
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 1985) and "Brand New Lover" (No. 15 in 1986).
"You Spin Me Round" peaked at number one for two weeks in 1985 in the UK, then charted again in 2006 following Burns's appearance on the television reality show Celebrity Big Brother. It also became the first of two singles to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked them as the 96th most successful "dance artist" of all-time. As of 2017 Dead or Alive has sold over 30 million albums and 28 million singles worldwide.The band was discontinued following Pete Burns' death in 2016.
Formation and early career of band
In 1977, Burns formed a band with contemporaries Julian Cope, Pete Wylie, and Phil Hurst, calling themselves The Mystery Girls. They played only one gig (opening for Sham 69 at Eric's in Liverpool in November 1977) before disintegrating.Burns returned in early 1979 with a new band, Nightmares in Wax (original name: 'Rainbows Over Nagasaki'), featuring a gothic post-punk sound, with backing from keyboardist Martin Healy, guitarist Mick Reid (ex-Crash Course and Glass Torpedoes), bassist Rob Jones, who left soon afterwards to be replaced by Walter Ogden, and drummer Paul Hornby, formerly of 051 and Pink Military, who also exited soon after the band's formation to be replaced by Phil Hurst.Nightmares in Wax played their first gig supporting Wire at Eric's in July 1979,and, around the same time, recorded demos which included a cover of the Simon Dupree song "Kites", a feature of their early shows. Although signed to the Eric's Records label, their only release, a three-track 7" EP entitled Birth of a Nation, appeared in March 1980 on Inevitable Records. A 12-inch single featuring two of the tracks from the EP, "Black Leather" and "Shangri-La", was released in 1985.The EP featured "Black Leather", which halfway through turned into K.C. & the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)" (a song later revived by Dead or Alive).
川公网安备 51019002004889号
