Alive

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Burns

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Dead or Alive

Dead or alive was historically, and is in popular culture, a common qualification on a wanted poster.

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Pete Burns

Peter Jozzeppi "Pete" Burns (born 5 August 1959) is an English singer-songwriter and television personality. He founded the band Dead or Alive in 1980, in which he was vocalist and songwriter, and which rose to mainstream success with their 1985 single "You Spin Me Round". He later rose to further celebrity status in the British media following his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother 2006, in which he finished in fifth place. He has since appeared on more television reality shows, including some presenting work.

Early life

Burns was born in Bebington, Cheshire. His mother, Evelina Maria Bettina Quittner Von Hudec (1913–1987), was born in Heidelberg, Germany. Her own father was Jewish, and so she left to Vienna to escape the anti-Semitic laws of the Nazis. It was in Vienna that she met Burns' father Francis Burns (who is from Liverpool, not Scotland as some sources claim), then a British soldier, at a soldiers' tea dance.

When talking about his late mother in an interview for television programme Psychic Therapy, Burns said: "As far as parental skills go in the conventional, normal world, she certainly wasn't a mother, but she's the best human being that I've ever had the privilege of being in the company of, and I know that she had a special plan for me. She called me 'Star Baby' and she knew that there was something special in me."

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" is a song by British band Dead or Alive on their 1985 album Youthquake. The song was the first UK number-one hit by the Stock Aitken Waterman production trio. Released in November 1984, the record reached number one in March 1985, taking 17 weeks to get there. On the US Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at no. 11 on 17 August of that year. In 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 17th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.

The video, which features a disco ball, waving gold flags and an evocation of the six-armed Vishnu, was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton.

Background and composition

Dead or Alive's vocalist Pete Burns states in his autobiography that he composed "You Spin Me Round" by using two existing songs as inspiration for creating something new:

According to Burns, the record company was unenthusiastic about "You Spin Me Round", to such an extent that Burns had to take out a £2,500 loan to record it, then once it had been recorded "the record company said it was awful. It was unanimous – it was awful, it was rubbish." Burns states that the band had to fund production of the song's video themselves.