Episode Details

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In this episode of Dead Famous, we unravel the chaotic life and sudden death of Pete Burns, the sharp-tongued, sharp-cheekboned frontman of Dead or Alive. Bursting out of Liverpool’s punk and club scenes, Burns clawed his way to global fame in the mid-1980s with You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) — a song that made him a pop star almost overnight.

But success never sat comfortably. Burns was confrontational, funny, self-destructive, and relentlessly uncompromising, torching relationships with record labels, bandmates, the press, and just about anyone else who crossed him. As the hits dried up, he became better known for reality TV chaos, brutal one-liners, and an escalating obsession with cosmetic surgery that left him physically and financially wrecked.

Behind the makeup, the fame, and the mythology was a man living on the edge — of debt, of addiction, and of his own body.

This is the story of a man who refused to be normal, refused to be quiet, and paid a brutal price for spinning too fast, too hard, and too close to the spotlight.

Research and writing - Elliott Caddy

Theme music arranged and composed by Holly-Jane Shears - www.soundcloud.com/deaddoginblackbag

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