Song:You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
Album:Evolution: The Hits
Dead Or Alive had most of their success in the dance clubs. You Spin Me Round was their biggest hit in 1985. It was also the first big hit for the Stock Aitken Waterman production team. Dead or Alive were from Liverpool led by lead singer and songwriter Pete Burns. I guess the shtick that got him attention was androgyny similar to Culture Club's Boy George. Burns always claimed that George stole that shtick from him. Burns went through a couple of bands before he formed Nightmares In Wax in 1979. The name was changed to Dead Or Alive in 1980. The band released a few singles and went through a lot of members before signing with Epic Records in 1983. They started to have success in England and the dance clubs with the 1984 album Sophisticated Boom Boom including a cover of the KC & The Sunshine Band hit That's The Way (I Like It). Obviously Epic thought dance music was the way to go for the 1985 album Youthquake. So they brought in the newly formed team of Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) who were known for their remix work. The band was Burns on vocals, Mike Percy on bass and guitar, Tim Lever on keyboards and Steve Coy on drums. They had success when You Spin Me Round topped the British charts and reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Burns said Epic hated the record and he was forced to take out loans to finance the recording and the video shoot. Despite the success, the band did not get along with SAW though they produced the 1987 album Mad, Bad and Dangerous To Know. The single Brand New Lover reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the dance charts. After that, Lever and Percy left to start a production company. Burns and Coy continued with the self produced 1990 album Fan The Flame Part 1 which was released only in Japan. It looked like Dead Or Alive was through. But they reformed for the last record on their contract and then they left Epic. You can get all of Dead Or Alive's hits on this budget comp. After that, Dead Or Alive released an album of covers in 2000 and they would release occasional singles. Burns became a celebrity in England by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006. He died of a heart attack on Oct. 23, 2016 at age 57. Here's the video for You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) by Dead or Alive.
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