Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive were an English dance-pop band formed in Liverpool in the late 1970s and fronted by the flamboyant Pete Burns, whose androgynous look and deep, theatrical voice became the group's visual and vocal signature. After early years rooted in post-punk and goth, the band reinvented itself in the mid-1980s as a glossy synth-pop act, riding the wave of the emerging Hi-NRG and dance-pop sound that dominated British clubs and charts at the time.

Their breakthrough came with «You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)», a global smash produced by the then-unknown team of Stock Aitken Waterman, whose pounding, hook-driven production style would go on to define much of 1980s British pop. The song's success established both the band and its producers, and Dead or Alive followed it with further dance-floor hits such as «Brand New Lover», «My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me to the Doctor)» and «Lover Come Back to Me», building a catalogue defined by driving beats, shimmering synthesizers and Burns's commanding delivery.

While never matching the commercial run of some contemporaries, Dead or Alive left a lasting mark on dance-pop and Hi-NRG, influencing the sound that Stock Aitken Waterman later brought to acts like Kylie Minogue and Bananarama. Pete Burns remained the band's central figure and public face until his death in 2016, and «You Spin Me Round» endures as one of the most recognizable pop singles of its era.