His appearance on Channel Four’s Celebrity Big Brother is not the most predictable career move for the 46 year-old pop star, having received multiple offers to appear on reality television shows in America he rejected reality shows as: “Used To Be A Celebrity, Get Me Back In There!” The thing is Pete has never been particularly interested in fame, failing to understand how "50-year-old mothers could pledge undying love and present me with their babies, on my doorstep”. But having had over £50,000 worth of plastic surgery and a reasonably successful music career left him lingering in the media spotlight, occasionally dragged out to be poked fun at for his appearance. "I'm artistic. I'm not a camp, throwaway queen, I'm not in Neverland, and I’m not Jennifer Lopez with three people to pluck my eyebrows.
 | | Pete Burns lead singer of Dead Or Alive |
"If you own a car, you change that every few years and that's just what I'm doing with my appearance." Provoking outrage on live television by arriving at the Big Brother house wearing a coat allegedly made from gorilla fur proved to be a fashion statement so criminal the Police referred it to the Crown Prosecution Service. "I've made myself what I want to be, which is not everybody's cup of tea. And people want to have a look at me. I fully accept that. People have always wanted to have a look at me." Pete Gair, who works for Channel Four and had the arduous task of selecting the guests for Big Brother denies booking Pete Burns based on his appearance. “Some of the press has accused us of booking Pete Burns because of what he looks like. But the reason we booked him was not because of his appearance -although that does help - but because he’s opinionated and mouthy and comes out with some fantastic one-liners.” Pete Burns’s success stems from his music career in electro-pop which began in 1980 with the formation of Dead or Alive. | "You could have thrown a hand-grenade into the middle of Church Street and caused less reaction. Pete is a born entertainer." | | Paul Du Noyer, Liverpool-born writer |
The band enjoyed considerable success in the UK and signed with Epic records in 1983 releasing their debut album “Sophisticated Boom Boom” which included the hit “That’s the way (I like it)”. But it was in 1984 when the band released “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” that superstardom struck as the single went to number one (after fifty weeks on general release) and made the top ten in America. Despite superstardom, Pete was very close to his parents and turned down an offer to tour with Madonna in the 80's to be with his mother when she was diagnosed with cancer. By the release of their third album, “Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know” Dead and Alive were club standards in the UK, but their real fan base was in Japan. The band forced Michael Jackson to reschedule his Japanese tour dates so as not to conflict theirs. One Japanese daily ran the headline, “Forget Madonna, we've got Pete Burns!” Dead or Alive started from humble beginnings in Liverpool, Pete used to run a clothes shop behind Probe Records on Slater Street and received verbal abuse from one Courtney Love on his way to work for his outrageous outfits. Born in Port Sunlight, Pete used to travel regularly to Liverpool for work before forming Dead or Alive and came back to the city after his single “Spin Me” went to number one. Pete speaking in an interview with ICLiverpool before he entered the Big Brother House said he would live here, if it wasn't for work constraints. "In this business you have to come to London because you have to be on call for things like studios or just management decisions and I make sure I'm here so I can keep control." Dead or Alive are releasing a remix of their single "Spin me Round" on Monday 30th of January. | 
