Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe : one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco -influenced dance-pop , and the other is a hi-NRG -driven form of Italo disco . Both forms were developed in the 1980s.
128-552: Producer trio Stock Aitken Waterman and pop band Dead or Alive made Eurobeat music more popular in the United States and Southeast Asia, where Eurobeat was historically marketed as hi-NRG (pronounced as "high energy"). For a short while, it also shared this term with early freestyle music and Italo disco. In the late 1970s, Eurodisco musicians such as Silver Convention and Donna Summer were popular in America. In
256-496: A tepee at his school playground. By his own admission, Burns was a lonely child who preferred drawing and painting to interacting with other children. Burns stated that he inherited his love of fashion from his mother: "She'd do five costume changes a day and had a real thing about make-up. Every day at 5:30 a.m., she'd barricade herself into the front room and do her face." Burns also later described his mother's alcoholism, drug addiction , and multiple suicide attempts which were
384-624: A 2010 ABC interview Burns explained: "I see myself as my own clay, and I was remodelling it." In early-2006, Burns revealed in another interview that he had spent his life savings on 18 months of reconstructive surgery after a cosmetic procedure on his lips went wrong. The botched lip augmentation led to an infection in his lips caused by the injectable filler used and it spread to the rest of his face, leaving holes in his skin which would excrete yellow fluid. Additional surgery-related health problems experienced by Burns included pulmonary embolisms and near-fatal blood clots . In March 2009, Burns
512-499: A Christmas release. Donovan returned to the studio to record the song " Too Many Broken Hearts ", which went to No. 1 in March 1989. His debut album Ten Good Reasons also held to the top spot for three weeks, selling 1.5 million copies. Donovan went on to have numerous successful singles with SAW, including the No. 1 hit " Sealed with a Kiss ", " Every Day (I Love You More) " (No. 2), and
640-662: A Record) " to be produced by the little-known team, in the Hi-NRG style of their 1984 UK hits " You Think You're a Man " by Divine , and " Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go) " by Hazell Dean . Recording of the single was plagued by arguments between the band and producers, but became the band's only song to reach No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart after lingering outside the Top 40 for over two months. The song proved to be SAW's first chart-topping single. The track also hit No. 11 in
768-403: A Rumour " (UK No. 14). The act were one of only a few who were given co-writing credits with the producers, with Stock describing the creative relationship as challenging; explaining he was obliged to collaborate with them due to a deal with their management. "It's very difficult to be creative if someone's just going to mock you, or laugh at you," he said. "With Bananarama it was just awkward, all
896-522: A Top 5 hit in both England and Australia. Donovan's next single, " Especially for You ", a duet with Kylie Minogue, went to No. 1 in January 1989. A duet had not initially been planned by SAW until retailer Woolworth's had taken huge orders for hundreds of thousands before the song had even been written. Stock wrote " Especially for You ", sang the demo with a SAW backing singer and Aitken flew to Australia to record Minogue and Donovan's vocals in time for
1024-465: A band and touring and away from their families all of the time and say they were leaving the band at the end of the Nude album recording! Well, excuse me boys, but I don't tolerate disloyalty and people making plans behind my back. I discussed it with Steve, and he and I decided that we didn't want them working half-heartedly on an album that we knew had to be the very best we could make, so we fired them on
1152-532: A collection of remakes with several new tracks and covers including U2 's " Even Better Than the Real Thing " and Nick Kamen 's "I Promised Myself". The first song on the album, " Hit and Run Lover ", was a hit single peaking at No. 2 on the Japanese charts. A new remix album, Unbreakable: The Fragile Remixes , was released in 2001. This was followed in 2003 with a greatest hits album entitled Evolution:
1280-656: A cover of the Simon Dupree and the Big Sound song "Kites", a feature of their early shows. Although signed to the Eric's Records label, their only release, a three-track 7-inch 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 turned halfway into KC and
1408-564: A follow-up single, Minogue was not keen on returning to England to work with SAW again after the rushed treatment she had received. Stock flew to Australia to meet Minogue and her parents at her Melbourne home to apologise and successfully convinced her to record a follow-up single " Got to Be Certain ", which reached No. 2 on the UK charts. When her debut album Kylie was released in August 1988 it sold 2.8 million copies. Minogue spent more weeks on
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#17327724205101536-424: A front for their concept of a female Frankie Goes To Hollywood . The record was released on Proto Records run by Barry Evangeli and Nick East and distributed by RCA and was championed by Radio 1 's John Peel . It achieved popularity in the gay clubs and discos where many new records were promoted into the mainstream as Hi-NRG . In 1983, Stock had been approached by Andy Paul , a Greek Cypriot, to write
1664-540: A gay icon and an individual who helped bring gay music into mainstream popularity. Burns was also the subject of tabloid speculation over his addiction to cosmetic surgery which bankrupted him and caused fatal health problems. Burns was born the youngest of two children on 5 August 1959, in Port Sunlight, Wirral . Burns's mother, Evelina Maria Bettina Quittner Von Hudec, was German-born ( Heidelberg ) and, according to his autobiography, her first marriage
1792-599: A group. On 21 March 2023, it was announced that a musical entitled I Should Be So Lucky , making use of SAW songs, would premiere at the Manchester Opera House before embarking on a UK tour. The musical is written and directed by the creator of the Nativity! franchise, Debbie Isitt , and choreographed by Jason Gilkison , the creative director of Strictly Come Dancing . Pete Burns Peter Jozzeppi Burns (5 August 1959 – 23 October 2016)
1920-410: A hair salon where they both worked. "I was immediately attracted to Pete," Corlett later said. "He was as outrageous as I was, and we both had so much in common. At first, they [Corlett's parents] thought Pete was just a gay friend of mine. They thought he was sweet and nice. But they didn't like it when they found out we were serious." Discussing the wedding, Burns said: "The only thing that spoiled it
2048-549: A hit video dance machine, Dance Dance Revolution . The game acquired Eurobeat songs from the Dancemania compilation series published by Toshiba EMI . Though there was not much Eurobeat from 2006's SuperNOVA on, the series still features some tracks as of 2021. Other music games in Konami's lineup feature a large number of Eurobeat tracks, including Beatmania , Beatmania IIDX , jubeat , and many more. The popularity of
2176-552: A job touring with Dean. In September 1984, SAW were approached by Dead or Alive frontman Pete Burns to produce the song " You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) ", which became SAW's first UK No. 1 in March 1985. Although a massive commercial success, the trio were still in dire financial straits and the record set the scene for SAW's often fractious creative relationship with those bands and artists who demanded creative involvement in their records. Engineer Phil Harding , who mixed
2304-754: A licence, although experts believed that the fur had been imported before it became illegal to import colobus fur in 1975. Burns acted as a co-host on the 2013 E4 show The Body Shocking Show and that same year he also co-hosted an episode of Celebrity Wedding Planner . His final musical performance was on Big Brother's Bit on the Side in May 2015 with his last public appearance being on Celebrity Botched Up Bodies in September 2016. Burns married Lynne Corlett in Liverpool on 8 August 1980, after he met Corlett in
2432-701: A load of black vinyl down into a kind of space quiff." Burns continued in early-1979 with a new band, Nightmares in Wax (originally called Rainbows Over Nagasaki), featuring a gothic post-punk sound, with backing from keyboardist Martin Healy, guitarist Mick Reid, bassist Rob Jones (who left to be replaced by Walter Ogden), and drummer Paul Hornby (who also exited after the band's formation to be replaced by Phil Hurst). The group played their first gig supporting Wire at Eric's Club in July 1979, and recorded demos which included
2560-624: A member of the Italo disco band Aleph . Together they restarted in the end of 1990 the Super Eurobeat compilation, which was beforehand an Italo-disco based CD series released by Beat Freak Label in 1990, a compilation CD which saw instant success and re-ignited Eurobeat's popularity in Japan. Avex also collaborated with foundational Eurobeat labels A-Beat C, Time , and Delta long after Eurobeat's mainstream popularity peak. Eurobeat's sound (in
2688-458: A mixture of hi-NRG -influenced sound, romantic Motown lyrics and Italo disco melodies with singles from Rick Astley , Bananarama , Mel and Kim , Donna Summer , Sinitta , Dead or Alive , Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue . During 1984–1989, their musical style was labelled Eurobeat . They also put swing shuffle elements into their songs. The producers' legacy has been increasingly positively reassessed, with contemporary analysts praising
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#17327724205102816-493: A more mainstream synthpop , typically performed by attractive singers. Their usual method for creating the music was to write the songs themselves, although some of their early artists wrote or co-wrote their own material. Next they would record the music with extensive use of synthesizers, drum machines (drums were often credited to "A Linn", a reference to the Linn brand of drum machine ) and sequencers ; and then finally bring in
2944-652: A nervous breakdown after she died and couldn't work." In mid-1988, Dead or Alive released the self-produced Nude (US No. 106, UK No. 82). In 2021, RetroPop Magazine retrospectively described Nude as the "perfect Dead or Alive album" and "their strongest offering overall". During the album's production Tim Lever and Mike Percy were fired from the band. The pair later formed careers as mixers and producers; both owned and operated Steelworks Studios in Sheffield and experienced success writing and mixing songs for acts like S Club 7 , Blue , and Robbie Williams . From
3072-463: A punk band with contemporaries Julian Cope , Pete Wylie , and Phil Hurst, calling themselves The Mystery Girls. They only had one performance (opening for Sham 69 at Eric's Club in Liverpool in November 1977) before disintegrating. Cope stated that Burns's performing style drew on that of the transgender punk performer Wayne County and Wylie recalled that "his head looked like someone had melted
3200-510: A secret world I shared with my mother. In those early years, I couldn't possibly have wished for a better friend. [...] She gave me the power to dream, the power to remove myself from where I might not be having any fun, and go inside my head and be somewhere else. For Burns, school was "almost non-existent", and his mother frequently kept him away so he could spend the day with her. Burns was also endlessly taunted by teachers and peers, before being thrown out of school at 14 after being summoned to
3328-405: A sequenced octave bassline. Many feature guitars as a beginning section, followed by a thunderous, highly technical synthesizer riff which is then repeated after the chorus. Songs usually repeat the verse, bridge, and chorus multiple times during the song. The beginning is typically like an instrumental rendition of the verse, bridge, and chorus, while the riff is a lot like an instrumental version of
3456-577: A series of minor hits in the United Kingdom, most notably his version of " That's the Way (I Like It) " (originally recorded by KC and the Sunshine Band ) which gave the band their first UK Top 40 hit. Their second album, Youthquake , brought Burns and the band international recognition, largely due to the success of the lead single, " You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) " which reached No. 1 on
3584-532: A series of stronger dialogue clips from The Exorcist – with the track described as "unique" in its capacity as the only known example of a "filthy, obscene [and] sexually explicit" Stock Aitken Waterman record. A third single, "Hooked on Love", failed to make the UK Top 40 amid Burns' battle with the label over their refusal to prioritise his preferred mix, which featured a "Gothic" overtone. In 1986, Burns recommended model Mandy Smith to Pete Waterman . Smith
3712-488: A singer and said that he hated the sound of his voice, wishing he had been able to sing falsetto like Sylvester . He also had an uncomfortable relationship with the corporate music industry and expressed disgust at the way it functioned. He always refused to allow record company staff to hear his music before it was completed, which "didn't make [the executives] very pleased" and refused to promote his work; "I used to let it sink or swim on its own." In 1977, Burns formed
3840-632: A singer solely to record the vocal track. Pete Burns would criticise SAW for their methods, describing that "they took our sound and just basically wheeled it off with a load of other imbeciles, and that makes me a bit sour." SAW's early work was recorded and mixed at Marquee Studios in Wardour Street , where Phil Harding and Rob Waldron worked with them on Youthquake . Waldron went to work as an assistant engineer to Harding when Waterman opened his new studio in Borough, London . Waldron became
3968-457: A sleeve depicting Burns in front of what appears to be a Satanic altar, featuring an inverted cross. Originally conceived by Burns as a Halloween release, the horror-themed "Something in My House" was delayed until late December in the UK, amid wrangling between the band and their record company, with the latter feeling the track was "too brutal" to be a single. Clashes between the band and
Eurobeat - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-558: A small independent record shop in Liverpool . Burns had been hired by Probe owner Geoff Davies due to his outlandish appearance (which included an "eighteenth-century shepherd's smock, an upside-down straw top hat with his dreads cascading out of the top, full make-up and massive heeled boots") that he hoped would attract customers. Burns later said that "Geoff only employed me for the glamour" and "people would travel from Wales and Leeds , just to look at me. They used to call me King – I
4224-657: A song for Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest . " Anna Maria Lena " was voted by the Cypriot public to represent their country in the competition and the re-recorded version would be Stock and Aitken's second collaboration with Waterman. The team were then asked to produce a song for drag performer Divine and they recorded " You Think You're a Man " at the Marquee Studio, which was released by Proto Records in July 1984. The song reached No. 16 on
4352-559: A trance soundtrack, in a similar way to how Initial D has Eurobeat. Types of music called "J-Euro" ( J apanese Euro beat) include: One of the dance moves Eurobeat spawned was para para ( パラパラ ) , a type of Eurobeat music-inspired Japanese youth social dance performed in unison. Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as The Hit Factory ) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock , Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman . The trio had great success from
4480-463: Is called "Eurobeat", "Super Eurobeat", and "Eurobeat Flash". The Japanese Para Para dance culture is influenced by Eurobeat. In the early 1990s, Eurobeat's popularity was gradually decreasing in Japan. Two Japanese men, namely Masato "Max" Matsuura the owner and a managing director of Avex a small import record shop at the time, decided to release a compilation CD . They went to Italy and met Giancarlo Pasquini (later known as Dave Rodgers ), then
4608-528: The Pet Shop Boys -produced track "Jack and Jill Party". The track reached No. 75 in the UK Singles Chart . On 7 September 2010, Burns's solo single "Never Marry an Icon", produced and co-written by the Dirty Disco, was released to the iTunes Store . The single was released by band member Steve Coy's label, Bristar Records . That year, Burns also appeared with Dutch Eurodance group Vengaboys in
4736-619: The Stock Aitken Waterman –produced hits by Dead or Alive , Bananarama , Jason Donovan , Sonia , and Kylie Minogue which were heavily based on the British experience with Italo disco. During 1986–1988, it was used for specific Italian 1980s Eurodisco imports, such as Sabrina Salerno , Spagna , and Baltimora but was also used in the United States as a catch-all term for UK-based dance and electropop groups of
4864-750: The UK Singles Chart and No. 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1985. In 2020, The Guardian ranked the song No. 5 in their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No. 1s" and Classic Pop ranked it No. 1 in their 2021 list of "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs". The album also contained three other UK Top 30 hits and was certified Gold by both the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) . The band's third album, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know ,
4992-414: The UK Singles Chart . Soon after, the team recorded Hazell Dean 's " Whatever I Do, (Wherever I Go) ". The song became Stock Aitken Waterman's first Top 10 hit, reaching No. 4 in the UK. This period saw a rapid refining of the core production team and their roles, with a fourth collaborator, Pete Ware, who was co-credited on the team's earliest records, leaving after Stock and Aitken objected to him taking
5120-542: The United Kingdom since 1979, reaching No. 3, and becoming Summer's final Top 10 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 . In January 1990, SAW had their last UK No. 1 single, Minogue's cover of " Tears on My Pillow ". SAW also produced Cliff Richard 's No. 3 single " I Just Don't Have the Heart " and gave 18-year-old singer Sonia a debut No. 1 with " You'll Never Stop Me Loving You ". Despite continued success in
5248-474: The manga by Shuichi Shigeno , uses Eurobeat music regularly in its episodes during racing scenes between the characters, and because of this it has come to the attention of some anime fans outside Japan. The series, as well as the video games by Sega , use a large playlist of Eurobeat songs (for example, the trio of "Deja Vu" by Dave Rodgers , "Running in the 90s" by Max Coveri , and "Gas Gas Gas" by Manuel Caramori). There are also many Eurobeat songs based on
Eurobeat - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-621: The 1980s, a highly polished production with "musical simplicity" at its core — from Bubblegum Pop -like lyrics, catchy (in some cases Italian, in other Eurodisco-like) melodies, to "elementary" song structures — an average British Eurobeat song took very little time to complete. Bananarama's " Venus " and Mel & Kim's " Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend) " were said to be completed in a day, according to Pete Waterman of Stock Aitken Waterman . Eurobeat lyrics and melody are very simple. Italo disco, sometimes fast and happy music like EDM , with
5504-538: The British media following his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother 4 , in which he received attention for his verbal tirades against housemates Jodie Marsh and Traci Bingham . He finished in fifth place on the finale, receiving 13.6% of the vote, and appeared on further television reality shows, including as a presenter. Burns was noted for his deep baritone voice along with his flamboyant dress style, eyepatch , and androgynous gender bender appearance. Though he avoided labelling himself, Burns has been recognised as
5632-528: The British underground club culture, encountering the Black American soul music-focused scene called Northern Soul , Italian pop-Eurodisco, and sped-up Motown Sound-inspired tracks. As underground record producers, they sought to recapture the "nostalgia" of Motown Sound with a hint of campy playfulness where the simplicity of musical structures, like in Italian disco, was preferred. This musical formula
5760-715: The Christmas No. 2 record " When You Come Back to Me ", kept off the top spot by the Band Aid II SAW record " Do They Know It's Christmas? ". In 1989, SAW had their most successful year with seven UK No. 1's (a feat equalled only by George Martin in 1963) and fifteen Top 5 hits. During that year, SAW wrote and produced over seven albums' worth of material for artists such as Kylie Minogue , Jason Donovan , Bananarama , Donna Summer , Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney . The team supplied Summer with her " This Time I Know It's for Real ", which became her biggest hit in
5888-534: The Hits along with a video compilation that was also released on DVD. " You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) " was re-released as a single to promote the album with it reaching No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart . In the mid-1990s, Burns collaborated with the Italian Eurodance -duo Glam to produce the single " Sex Drive ", which was later re-recorded for Nukleopatra . In 2004, Burns enjoyed solo success with
6016-516: The Japanese market) is its main link to its Italo disco origins, where it was just one of many different experiments in pure electronic dance . There are certain synth instruments that recur across the entire genre: a sequenced octave bass, the energetic (sometimes wild) and heavy use of synths, distinctive brass and harp sounds, and tight, predictable percussion in the background. Sega game Sega Touring Car Championship first featured Eurobeat as racing music. The anime series Initial D , based on
6144-507: The Sunshine Band 's " That's the Way (I Like It) ". The band went through several line-up changes over the next three years while recording a series of independent singles. In 1980, after replacing several members, Burns changed the band's name to Dead or Alive . Dead or Alive's singles started charting on the UK Indie Chart , beginning with 1982's "The Stranger" reaching No. 7. This prompted major label Epic Records to sign
6272-619: The UK Top 100 Singles Chart every week between March 1986 and October 1990. The group have sold 400 million units globally, and they also received a Brit Award for Best British Producer in 1987 along with nine Ivor Novello Awards between 1988 and 1990. In 1990 SAW picked up three Ivor Novello Awards for Songwriter of the Year, Most Performed Work for Donna Summer 's "This Time I Know It's for Real" and Best Selling A-Side for Jason Donovan's " Too Many Broken Hearts ". SAW started producing underground club hits, but earned worldwide success with
6400-495: The UK Top 30, with Youthquake reaching the Top 10. Additionally, the band had seven UK Top 40 singles, two US Top 20 singles and another two singles which went to No. 1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. In 2016, Billboard magazine ranked Dead or Alive as one of the most successful dance artists of all time. His debut album, Sophisticated Boom Boom , was released in 1984, producing
6528-507: The UK, and their last Top 20 hit in Australia. A 12-inch version of the song, the "Mortevicar Mix", featured scenes from Nosferatu and sampling of dialogue from the soundtrack of The Exorcist and a sampling from the trailer of George A. Romero 's film Day of the Dead . Another highly controversial 12-inch white label mix, known as "Naughty XXX", was released to club DJs, featuring
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#17327724205106656-533: The UK. A reunion concert event called Hit Factory Live took place ion 21 December 2012 at London's O2 Arena featuring many of the acts associated with Waterman's record labels. In December 2015, SAW made a return producing a remix of the Chris Martin -written Minogue song " Every Day's Like Christmas ". Stock and Waterman collaborated on the UK Eurovision 2010 entry " That Sounds Good to Me ". It
6784-577: The US Hot Dance Club Songs chart and No. 1 for a record-breaking seventeen-weeks in Japan. It was followed by the singles "Baby Don't Say Goodbye" which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart for ten-weeks and " Come Home with Me Baby " which spent nine-weeks at No. 1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play due to a popular remix by producer Lewis Martineé . However, " Come Home with Me Baby " and
6912-617: The US and No. 1 in Canada. In a 2009 interview discussing the song, Burns disputed the Hi-NRG label, saying "to me it was just disco ", and describing the song as "a pop hit, not a hi-NRG hit". Burns later said he had wanted to make a "glittery disco record", while Pete Waterman , asked to define the song's sound, said it was "techno-disco; without a question that's what it was. It was new technology playing Motown ; that's all it was. Taking out
7040-553: The US). Later that year, Stock ended his relationship with Waterman following a disagreement over their finances; by the end of their partnership, SAW had written and/or produced over 300 Top 75 hits and 30 platinum albums. In 2005, the three producers reunited again and released a CD+DVD album, Stock Aitken Waterman Gold , with some of their best-known and most successful singles. In 2007, SAW released The Sheilas ' single " (I'm So) Happy Happy (You're Mine) ", which reached No. 91 in
7168-604: The Way (I Like It) ", a cover of the 1975 hit by KC and the Sunshine Band . That song, along with " Misty Circles ", were also hits on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The album was a minor success in the UK where it peaked at No. 29. As Burns and his band achieved greater media exposure, his eccentric and androgynous appearance often led to comparisons with Culture Club and its lead singer Boy George as well as " Calling Your Name " singer Marilyn . Burns would describe producing his first album as "the most joyous experience of my life, full of happy memories, because there
7296-485: The album was marred by more fights between the band and SAW, with the latter frustrated by the band's refusal to branch into house music , and Burns being unwilling to hand over songwriting duties to the producers. SAW's recording engineer Karen Hewitt recalled the singer appeared to thrive on his often explosive and confrontational dynamic with Mike Stock and Matt Aitken during the album sessions. Matt Aitken confessed to struggling with Burns' vocal experimentation on
7424-403: The band Brilliant , Stock wrote a song for their backing singer Desiree Heslop called " Say I'm Your Number One ", which peaked at No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart . These chart successes and the trio's sound attracted the attention of girl group Bananarama towards the end of 1985. Group member Siobhan Fahey wanted to record a cover version of Shocking Blue 's hit song " Venus ". The result
7552-458: The band had to threaten legal action against the label before they received the royalties on them. Other album tracks released as singles included " Lover Come Back To Me " (No. 11), " In Too Deep " (No. 14), and " My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me to the Doctor) " (No. 23) which all reached the UK Top 30. Despite the international chart-topping success of Youthquake and its lead single, Burns said it
7680-505: The band himself. In 1997, Burns claimed that some of the song covers were included as "album fillers" after studio time to write new material was cut short when "the record label started to fall to bits". In 1999, Burns covered Madonna 's song "Why's It So Hard" from Erotica for Virgin Voices: A Tribute to Madonna , a compilation album featuring various artists covering her most iconic songs. In 2000, Dead or Alive released Fragile ,
7808-437: The band in 1983. Their first release for Epic was the single " Misty Circles ", which appeared at No. 100 on the major UK Singles Chart in 1983. Two more singles co-produced by Zeus B. Held (" What I Want " and " I'd Do Anything ") were released but mainstream success continued to elude the band. The band's debut album, Sophisticated Boom Boom , was released in May 1984 and featured their first Top 40 UK single, " That's
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#17327724205107936-541: The band produced their next studio album, Fan the Flame (Part 1) , although their only successful record deal was in Japan where the album peaked at No. 27 on the Japanese Albums Chart . The band had begun to produce Fan the Flame (Part 2) , however the album was shelved until it was finished in 2021. An acoustic album Love, Pete was also made available during a US personal appearance tour in 1992 and
8064-492: The chief recording engineer and Linn 9000 programmer (A Linn) and Harding was the mixer/remixer. The tendency toward interchanging artists and repertoire was well established when Rick Astley 's breakout album Whenever You Need Somebody got its name and title track from a minor hit the trio had produced a year earlier for O'Chi Brown . Similarly, many of their songs were tried out and recorded by multiple artists; Mel and Kim , Pepsi and Shirlie and Sinitta all recorded
8192-455: The chorus. beginning (intro) → synth → A melo (verse) → B melo (bridge) → chorus → synth → C melo → ending The intro is the introduction into the song, the synth (also known as the sabi) is the musical part without voices. The A melo , or a-melody is the first verse in the song, the B melo is the bridge of the song, and there is a vocal chorus. There is also a C melo after the first chorus, as well as another A/B melo variant after
8320-489: The clothes they bought from him were "crap" even going so far as to mock people he spotted around town wearing his designs. The band released its second album Youthquake (US No. 31, UK No. 9) in May 1985, produced by the then-fledgling production team of Mike Stock , Matt Aitken , and Pete Waterman , known as Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). Desiring to move on from the sound of the band's debut studio album, Sophisticated Boom Boom , Burns wanted " You Spin Me Round (Like
8448-518: The divinity I had in the city at the time." Boy George , in his autobiography Take It Like a Man , said that Burns was "a local disco celebrity in Liverpool , like Philip Sallon in London." He also noted, "I'd never met Burns, but knew of his reputation for being evil." Along with working at Probe, Burns also worked as a clothes designer and was the owner of a small fashion shop in Liverpool 's Casey Street. Burns often informed his customers that
8576-631: The early-1990s with Minogue's singles and Lonnie Gordon 's " Happenin' All Over Again " (No. 4), the partnership began to disband. The week of 13 October 1990 became the first with no SAW-produced singles in the UK Top 75 in over two years. In mid-1991, Aitken left the team due to stress and deep dissatisfaction with business and creative decisions made by Waterman. Stock stayed with Waterman to write and produce Minogue's fourth album, Let's Get to It , Sybil's 1993 hits, " The Love I Lost " (No. 3) and " When I'm Good and Ready " (No. 5), and Boy Krazy 's " That's What Love Can Do " (which made it to No. 18 in
8704-434: The following year, Nude was released with singles " Turn Around and Count 2 Ten " and " Come Home with Me Baby " being massive chart successes in America and Japan. Burns had a significant impact and influence on Japanese pop culture especially with J-pop and visual kei . He also achieved greater superstar status in the region than both Michael Jackson and Madonna . Burns continued to achieve celebrity status in
8832-612: The footballer Neil Ruddock . On 2 November 2006, Burns presented an ITV program titled Pete Burns' Cosmetic Surgery Nightmares . From 8 October 2007, to 5 December 2007, Pete's PA aired on Living following Burns as he searched for a new personal assistant (PA). In 2008, Burns was also the subject of an episode for the show Psychic Therapy on the Biography Channel where he was interviewed by medium Gordon Smith . In January 2006, Burns appeared on Channel 4 's Celebrity Big Brother 4 , eventually reaching fifth on
8960-570: The genre also led Konami to create a Para Para game, ParaParaParadise , though it was less successful than their other series. Wangan Midnight the Movie , which was a film adaptation of the manga and anime series of the same name , features some Eurobeat songs, though only in some scenes as it has an original score playing through race sequences. Similarly, the Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune arcade games by Namco feature
9088-477: The headmaster's office because he had arrived at school with "no eyebrows, Harmony-red hair, and one gigantic earring". "I dropped out of school, because it got to be too dangerous for somebody who looked a little different. At that time, I was experimenting with hair dyes and stuff like that, and I was going to a particularly macho-oriented school and causing too much controversy." Summarizing his time at school, Burns stated: "I learnt nothing at school. I hated it. I
9216-538: The information booklet in Sophisticated Boom Box MMXVI , Burns stated: During the first couple of months of writing and recording, Mike and Tim seemed to be acting a little distant and insular, and after a bit of investigation, we discovered that they were building their own professional recording studio where they lived. When we asked why, they said they wanted to move into concentrating on record production work on their own, didn't want to be in
9344-400: The label continued over the song's music video, with Epic Records reportedly objecting to a "mildly suggestive" sequence involving Burns and a banana. "By the time we got to 'Something in My House', I felt I wanted to express myself on film, as well as record, amuse myself, show my sense of humour," Burns wrote on the liner notes to his Evolution: The Videos compilation DVD. "Well apparently
9472-416: The manner in which I 'peeled a banana' seemed to work against me/us! And, it was downhill all the way after that." Recording of the song was also fraught, with Burns alleging that producer Mike Stock erased his original vocal take after objecting to the singer's use of the phrase "wicked queen"; a lyrical double entendre implying reference to a gay relationship. "We would butt heads so fucking badly; it
9600-529: The mid-1980s through to the early-1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time by the Guinness World Records , scoring more than 100 UK Top 40 hits (many of which were also worldwide successes) and earning an estimated £60 million in royalties. The trio had thirteen UK No. 1 singles including three consecutive UK No. 1's and three US No. 1 singles. They also had at least one record in
9728-581: The music video for their song " Rocket to Uranus ". In December 2003, the BBC apologised to its viewers after Burns swore once on its pre- 9pm watershed Liquid News show when asked about his views on the Michael Jackson trial . Burns also appeared in the first episode of the ninth series of the UK version of Celebrity Wife Swap . His partner Michael Simpson went to live with former Page 3 model Leah Newman, while Burns lived with Newman's partner,
9856-508: The musicians and bringing in technology for the first time." Burns would later criticise SAW for their methods, describing that "they took our sound and just basically wheeled it off with a load of other imbeciles, and that makes me a bit sour." Burns stated in his autobiography that he composed " You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) " by using two existing songs: How did I write "Spin Me"? I listened to Luther Vandross 's 'I Wanted Your Love'. It's not
9984-485: The new material. Work on new material recommenced with PWL staffer Barry Stone taking over co-production duties. The band released a new single in 1994, a cover version of David Bowie 's " Rebel Rebel ", under the name International Chrysis , named after the late transsexual nightclub performer . An initial demo of the track, which featured new lyrics written by Burns, was blocked by Bowie – who legally denied permission to use new lyrics, and also unsuccessfully requested
10112-412: The original vocal, but then Pete Waterman came back and said, 'Let him do it the way he wants to.'" Despite the reservations of the label and producers, the track proved to be Dead or Alive's biggest hit in the UK since " Lover Come Back to Me " and was the only single from their third album to earn a UK Top 20 placement. The song also proved to be the act's final Top 40 hit with an original release in
10240-557: The other singles struggled in the UK. This was attributed to the lyrics of the song, which encouraged casual sex during the AIDs epidemic . Additionally, despite strong customer demand, the US record company refused to release it as a proper single (claiming they objected to the male dancers in the music video) which prevented the song from becoming a major hit on the Billboard Hot 100 . In 1989, to support his Nude album and
10368-977: The production team by producer George Martin . " Let It Be " went to No. 1 in the UK where it stayed for three weeks. In 1989, SAW would have another No. 1 with McCartney on the Gerry and the Pacemakers hit – " Ferry Cross the Mersey " – recorded to raise funds for the victims and their families of the Hillsborough Disaster . They'd say, 'We're just making records for people to have a good time to.' They are utterly and totally Thatcherite and their records are utterly and totally Thatcherite records. In which sense they are perfect pop because they are totally records of their time. Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys discussing Stock Aitken Waterman in 1989 Following their early success, SAW's style evolved into
10496-402: The quality and enduring impact of their music. Musician Mike Stock had briefly worked with DJ Pete Waterman in 1980 when John Milton, Mark Stock and Mike wrote a song – "One Nine for a Lady Breaker" – for a CB radio club. A version of the track found its way to Waterman who managed Peter Collins , then a successful producer with acts like Musical Youth and Nik Kershaw . The track
10624-636: The release of its companion remix album Nude – Remade Remodelled , Burns toured with fellow Stock Aitken Waterman acts Sinitta and Kylie Minogue in Asia and Europe on the ensemble Disco in Dream concert tour . On 6 October, Burns gave a performance at the Tokyo Dome , the largest concert venue in Japan (with a seating capacity of 55,000 people), which was broadcast on the NHK television network. In 1990,
10752-514: The release of two Italo disco-sounding singles in 1985 and 1986, produced and mixed by Michael Cretu (of Enigma ). The later solo success of Arabesque's lead singer Sandra further introduced this sound to Japan. This attracted the attention of many Italo disco producers (mostly Italians and Germans), though by the late 1980s the West Germans had faded out of Italo disco and focused on more popular scenes, mainly trance . In Japan, this music
10880-406: The result of her having suffered a nervous breakdown when she learned the fate of her family members during World War II . However, he maintained that she was "absolutely the best mother in the world" despite the child abuse he experienced: I lived, I know now, a very solitary childhood. I had nothing to compare it with, so it seemed fine to me. I rarely left the house. I didn't need to; I had
11008-492: The same chord structure, but then that's the way I make music – I hear something and I sing another tune over it. I didn't sit and study the Luther Vandross album – I heard the song and it locked. [...] I'm trying to structure the music and I know what I want. [...] It's like do this, do this, do this – and suddenly it hits. I don't want to do Luther Vandross's song, but I can still sing the same pattern over it. And there
11136-529: The second SAW-produced album, including what he described as the introduction of a displeasing yodel . The lead single " Brand New Lover " became a modest UK hit, peaking at No. 31, but was more successful in the US where it reached No. 15 on the US Hot 100, and No. 1 on the US Billboard dance chart . Following a fraught six-month recording session with producers Stock Aitken Waterman , which
11264-408: The second sabi. British record producer Ian Levine 's Eastbound Expressway, released the single "You're a Beat" in recognition of the slower tempo of hi-NRG music emerging from Europe. Many European acts managed to break through under this new recognition, namely the likes of Modern Talking , Bad Boys Blue , Taffy , and Spagna . The term "Eurobeat" was subsequently used commercially to describe
11392-430: The series itself, including: "Takumi" by Neo, "Speed Car" by D-Team and "DDD Initial D (My Car is Fantasy)" by Mega NRG Man. Initial D ' s successor, MF Ghost , uses Eurobeat as background music in the same way as its predecessor. Another anime called Dear Boys , which focuses on basketball, also features Eurobeat during basketball game sequences. In 1998, Bemani, a branch of the video game company Konami made
11520-432: The show's final episode. During the program, he declared that one of his coats was made out of gorilla fur – this caused outrage among animal rights activists as unlicensed gorilla fur is illegal in the United Kingdom. Police subsequently confiscated the coat and tests were performed on it that revealed that it was not gorilla but was made out of the fur of colobus monkeys which are an endangered species whose fur requires
11648-507: The singles chart that year than any other artist. Minogue went on to record three more studio albums with SAW, scoring fifteen successive Top 10 UK hits including " Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi " (No. 2), " Hand on Your Heart " (No. 1), " Wouldn't Change a Thing " (No. 2), " Tears on My Pillow " (No. 1), " Better the Devil You Know " (No. 2) and " Shocked " (No. 6). Soon after, Jason Donovan 's first single, "Nothing Can Divide Us", became
11776-439: The song "Who's Gonna Catch You", both Kylie Minogue and Mandy Smith recorded "Got To Be Certain", whilst Mel and Kim , Carol Hitchcock and Hazell Dean gave vocals for "More Than Words Can Say". Their prodigious, production line -like output and similar song structures led to them being referred to as "The Hit Factory" and attracted criticism from many quarters, including The Guardian newspaper, who unflatteringly dubbed
11904-417: The song's disappointing chart run in his home country on his then-ongoing war with his UK label, alleging that the company had failed to press and distribute enough copies of the single to make it a hit, and claiming the band had lost out on 67,000 UK sales as a result. Three more singles from the album were released, the most successful in the UK was " Something in My House " (No. 12), tonally Gothic and with
12032-413: The spot, and told them to go concentrate on giving 100% to their new career as producers. It was a tough decision to make, but they made the decision for us. "I like what I'm doing. It pleases me and if other people like it, it's a bonus." Burns in an unaired 1988 interview with MTV promoting his album, Nude . The album featured the single " Turn Around and Count 2 Ten " which reached No. 2 in
12160-412: The team, "Schlock, Aimless and Waterdown". In 1987, Waterman formed PWL (the in-house label of SAW) and one of the first artists to be released on the label was Australian soap star, Kylie Minogue . Stock was informed by Minogue's manager, Terry Blamey, that she had been in London for ten days waiting to work with SAW though Waterman had not informed Stock. By the time Minogue entered the studio, she
12288-516: The term "Eurobeat" was applied to all continental-European dance music imports. These were mainly Italian and West German-produced Italo disco releases. That sound became the soundtrack of the Para Para nightclub culture, which has existed since the early 1980s. Japan experienced Italo disco through the success of the West German group Arabesque , which broke up in 1984. This did not prevent
12416-487: The time such as Pet Shop Boys , purported to have a "European beat", hence Eurobeat. By 1989, with the advent of Eurodance and Euro house, the term was dropped in the UK. "It's a great hybrid with Motown-style lyrics, an Italian-style melody, and a Eurobeat. It sounds really great on the radio." —Waterman (1986) on Bananarama "I Heard a Rumour". The trio of British record producers, songwriters, and former DJs Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman were involved in
12544-439: The time very awkward, and I didn't feel comfortable writing with them." In 1986, Mel and Kim 's first single " Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend) " went to No. 3 on the UK charts and their follow-up " Respectable " reached No. 1. In 1987, Rick Astley recorded the team's biggest hit – " Never Gonna Give You Up " – though initially Stock and Aitken were unsure of its appeal with Astley's strong but unorthodox voice. When it
12672-495: The track not be covered by Burns at all. Remixed versions of tracks from Fan the Flame (Part 1) were later re-recorded for the band's 1995 Nukleopatra album which was their sixth studio album. While the album was released as scheduled in Japan, the planned European release was pulled when Burns left PWL Records after Pete Waterman refused his request to use Paul Oakenfold and other remixers to work on further singles, and instead insisted he wanted to write and produce for
12800-483: The track, said tensions were running so high between the band members and producers Stock and Aitken during mixing, that it almost escalated to violence. Stock has disputed the seriousness of studio tensions, alleging that Burns, Harding and Waterman have all "exaggerated" what happened in their recounting of events. In 1985, the trio built a new studio at The Vineyard recording studio complex, The Borough, which would later be dubbed "The Hit Factory". Whilst working with
12928-407: Was "very amicable". On the topic of his sexuality, Burns stated, "[People] always want to know – am I gay, bi, trans or what? I say, forget all that. There's got to be a completely different terminology and I'm not aware if it's been invented yet. I'm just Pete." He also said that he always identified himself as male and never had intentions of being a woman: "It freaks me that someone could think I
13056-479: Was a disaster — my nose completely caved in on one side. I'm at home recovering, when I get a call telling me I'm on Top of the Pops next Tuesday. That's why I had to wear that eyepatch . It wasn't a fashion statement, it was practical." Despite the botched rhinoplasty , Burns would go on to have extensive polyacrylamide injections into his lips, cheek implants, many more rhinoplasties and lots of tattoos. During
13184-564: Was a pop/hi-NRG reworking which became a worldwide chart hit, reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1986 and reaching the Top 10 in the UK and many other countries. Bananarama went on to make Stock, Aitken and Waterman their main producers, and would collaborate with them on some of their biggest hits, including " Love in the First Degree " (UK No. 3), " I Can't Help It " (UK No. 20), and " I Heard
13312-401: Was a woman. Don't get me wrong – I love women; I love men, too, and I'm very proud to be a man." Burns was known for his addiction to cosmetic surgery and stated in a 2016 interview: "The number of surgeries I've had is probably 300. I hope when I'm 80 and I get to heaven God doesn't recognise me." Burns had his first cosmetic procedure (a rhinoplasty ) in 1984. He explained: "I realised I
13440-490: Was already well-known in the British tabloids due to her relationship with Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman , which started when she was 13. Smith became the very first artist signed to Waterman's PWL Records in September 1986 when she was 16-years-old. In 1987, Dead or Alive released their greatest hits album Rip It Up , and a concert tour of the same name with dates in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Film footage
13568-419: Was an English singer, songwriter and television personality who formed the band Dead or Alive in 1980 during the new wave era and was the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter. He sold over 17 million albums and 36 million singles worldwide and also gave the songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) their first UK No. 1 hit single. His first three albums all reached
13696-406: Was another record, by Little Nell , called "See You 'Round Like a Record". [...] So I had those two, Van Dross [ sic ] and Little Nell and – bingo! – done deal. Burns claimed the song was "completed" by the time the producers were then chosen to work on it, stating that "the record companies don't trust a band to go into the studio without a producer". However, according to Burns, the record company
13824-513: Was due on a plane back to Australia later that day. In forty-minutes Stock and Aitken had written the song, " I Should Be So Lucky ", recorded a backing track and Minogue's vocals. The single was released by PWL in February 1988 and climbed to the No. 1 spot in March where it stayed for five weeks, the joint longest running No. 1 of 1988. It also went to No. 1 in 25 other territories including Minogue's native country Australia . With demand for
13952-900: Was forced to reschedule his Japanese tour dates during his Bad World Tour so as not to conflict with Dead or Alive. One contemporary Japanese newspaper even ran the headline, "Forget Madonna , we've got Pete Burns!" During this time, Burns turned down offers to tour with Madonna for her Who's That Girl World Tour as well as with Bon Jovi to be with his mother when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Burns later recalled: "A manager left an answerphone message telling me, 'If you don't want your career to die of cancer like your mother, you should pack your bags.'" Burns's mother died in 1987 and her death led Burns to struggle to write new musical material. This coupled along with his tour refusals adversely affected his music career and caused him to subsequently reduce his public profile in later years. "I felt, well, nothing's worth going on for," he stated. "I had
14080-437: Was going to be a visual entity and that I had to look good. I had a broken nose. In the punk days somebody head butted me in Liverpool , and it went over to one side. When you're young, self-conscious and standing in front of a camera and the photographers are whispering, 'Can we just turn his head to the left because he's got a lump on his nose,' you think, 'Well, I'll do something about it'." According to Burns: "The operation
14208-406: Was just really into David Bowie so I shaved off my eyebrows and dyed my hair orange, I was alienated in the seventies at school." During this time, Burns was also raped by a man who drove him to Raby Mere and threatened him with an air gun . "I thought I should have been upset about that," wrote Burns. "But I wasn't." Between 1977 and 1984, Burns worked as a shop assistant at Probe Records ,
14336-400: Was like King Punk." After being hired, Burns would lash out at customers if he disliked their music choices, behaviour which was encouraged by Davies. "I'm not lettin' yer waste yer money on that shite," Burns exclaimed to one customer who wanted to buy an LP record . BBC radio producer Graham Robertson recalled Burns's time at Probe: Some kids were scared to go up to the counter when Pete
14464-427: Was marked by fights and disagreements between the band, record company and producers over the sound of their new material, Burns claimed he struggled to get Epic to commit to a release schedule for the single. He said this changed when Bananarama had major success with their Dead or Alive-inspired cover of " Venus ", which Burns claimed encouraged the label to schedule "Brand New Lover" for release. Later, Burns blamed
14592-427: Was no commercial pressure on us." During his time at Liverpool , Burns became acquainted with Courtney Love shortly after she moved to the area in 1982 using money from a small trust fund . When Burns became "the local celebrity punk", he remembered how Love "would call me all sorts of names on the street and it got to the stage where I just sort of loved her for that. She had, like, a complete lack of respect for
14720-529: Was proven to be successful enough to be capitalized on as they had a string of top 10 UK hits in the 1980s to the point of their version of Eurobeat becoming synonymous with British pop music as a whole. Pete Burns of Dead or Alive regularly fought the production team over "[having to adhere] to their production methods and concepts" which SAW were "quite firm about". Burns went on making a next album, produced by Burns and Dead or Alive drummer Steve Coy, without them, called Nude . Epic (licensed by Sony Europe)
14848-549: Was re-recorded and produced by Collins; Stock sang on the track under the alias Chris Britton. In January 1984, Stock and songwriter Matt Aitken arranged to meet Waterman at his office in the Stiff Records building, Camden Town . Waterman was seeking a new partnership and in February they went into the Marquee Studio in Wardour Street Soho to record the song "The Upstroke" for Agents Aren't Aeroplanes -
14976-400: Was recorded at two shows at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan on 9 October and at Osaka's Osaka-jō Hall on 11 October, and released on video cassette ( VHS ) and Laserdisc that same year under the title Rip It Up Live . The concert was eventually issued as bonus material for the first time on DVD as part of the 2003 compilation release. Due to their immense popularity in the region, Michael Jackson
15104-567: Was released by RCA , "Never Gonna Give You Up" went straight to No. 1 in 17 different countries including America and the UK where it became the biggest selling record of 1987. Astley's fourth single, " Together Forever " also topped the Billboard Hot 100 . That year SAW produced " Let It Be " in aid of the victims involved in the Zeebrugge Ferry disaster , and Stock got the chance to work with his musical inspiration Paul McCartney whose original recordings of The Beatles were sent to
15232-511: Was released in 1986, scoring several further hit singles including " Brand New Lover " which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and spent two weeks at No. 1 on the American dance chart in addition to " Something in My House " which peaked at No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 on the American dance chart . In 1987, a greatest hits album was released entitled Rip It Up containing singles from their two prior albums and
15360-496: Was reluctant about releasing the album but it turned out to be so successful in Japan that it was awarded the Japan Record Award Grand Prix for Best International Album of 1989 in the 'Pop' or 'Popular' Category. "Three labels have been with us for years now, and they believed in us. Without them, we couldn't have made it happen." — Avex Trax 's Haji Taniguchi (2000) Meanwhile, in Japan in 1985,
15488-489: Was revealed in the final round of Eurovision: Your Country Needs You on BBC One , in which Josh Dubovie eventually earned the right to perform the song at the contest. He finished in 25th place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 , receiving 10 points in total. In 2023, the trio reunited for the filming of the Channel 5 documentary Legends of Pop: Stock Aitken Waterman , each giving interviews both individually and as
15616-459: Was serving as he was acerbic and scathing but, overall, he was really funny. I personally relished going up to pay as it was always entertaining. My mates would often give me their records to pay for and I would place our selections on the counter and attempt to catch his eye – he was usually permanently immersed in an animated conversation and would often serve you without breaking from it! Despite his later success, Burns did not have ambitions to be
15744-435: Was since widely bootlegged with the title Fan the Flame (Part 2): The Acoustic Sessions . Pete strongly criticized its subsequent distribution. In the early-1990s, Burns and Coy signed with Pete Waterman 's PWL Records and recording was started on new tracks co-written and produced by Mike Stock , but the sessions were aborted when Stock abruptly quit over his dissatisfaction with his share of publishing royalties on
15872-454: Was that the man in the registry office had to go and make a feeble joke by asking which one of us was the bride." They divorced in 2006 and Burns entered a civil partnership with his partner Michael Simpson shortly afterward in 2007. According to Corlett, Burns "was seeing Michael when we were still married but I knew about that." She also said that Burns was "very honest" about his romantic relationship with Simpson and said that their divorce
16000-596: Was the album that he was "most dissatisfied with" and recalled that "one of the unhappiest days of my life was when Spin Me reached No. 1 – and I mean really unhappy. Because I knew it would be downhill all the way after that." Burns had a fear of success and hoped that his singles would not chart highly. "I didn't want too high positions because I didn't want to lose my life," he recalled. "I thought, if it happens it happens, but if it doesn't – phew!" In late 1986, Dead or Alive released their third album, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (US No. 52, UK No. 27). Production of
16128-644: Was to a German Freiherr . As her father was Jewish, she moved to Vienna to escape the Nazis . At a tea dance in Vienna, she met an English soldier from Liverpool named Francis Burns. Until he was 5, Burns spoke only German which resulted in local children spending days outside his house shouting " Heil Hitler ". From a young age, Burns developed a penchant for wearing costumes and he became obsessed with Native American culture going so far as to wear an Indian headdress constantly along with having his mother put up
16256-443: Was unbelievable," Burns told journalist James Arena in his book Europe's Stars of 80s Dance Pop . "That's why we eventually walked away from them. For instance, there was a lyric from 'Something in My House' where I make reference to a wicked queen. "The actual producer, Mike Stock stopped me and said I couldn't use that term because it would mean the record is about gay people. I was like, 'Fuck this, it's going on!' They actually wiped
16384-445: Was unenthusiastic about the single to such an extent that Burns had to take out a £2,500 loan to record it. Afterward, he recalled, "the record company said it was awful" and the band had to fund production of the song's video themselves. Additionally, Burns said that 12-inch singles comprised over 70% of the original sales of "You Spin Me Round", and because these were regarded by the record label as promotional tools rather than sales,
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