Dead or Alive | The Diva Series - a podcast by Keith a.k.a. K j A M

Party Favorz is wrapping up our Back to the 80's edition with the final induction into the Diva Hall of Fame with the gender-bending and ultra-influential Dead or Alive.



Dead or Alive was an English pop band formed in 1980 in Liverpool; finding success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the Top 40 UK and three albums on the Top 30 UK. They were the first band under the production team of Stock Aitken Waterman to have a number-one single. At the peak of their success, their lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Mike Percy (bass), Steve Coy (drums) and Tim Lever (keyboards); they have released seven studio albums and five compilation albums.



Two of the band's singles reached the U.S. Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" (No. 11 in 1985) and "Brand New Lover" (No. 15 in 1986).



"You Spin Me Round" peaked at number one for two weeks in 1985 in the UK, then charted again in 2003 and 2006 following Burns's appearance on the television reality show Celebrity Big Brother.[vague] It also became the first of two singles to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked them as the 96th most successful "dance artist" of all-time. As of 2017 Dead or Alive has sold over 30 million albums and 28 million singles worldwide.[5] The band was discontinued following Pete Burns' death in 2016. ³



As a GenX child of the 80's, I can honestly say that Dead or Alive was the shit! Beyond the two singles mentioned above, songs like "Lover Come Back To Me," "My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me a Doctor)," "Something In My House," and "Come Home With Me Baby" were floor-filling staples at the time of their release.



Fueled by the production team of Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), Dead or Alive generated some of the most beloved Hi-NRG dance tracks of the era.



Sadly, lead singer Pete Burns died of cardiac arrest in 2016 at the age of 57.



As part of the era of big-hair and excess, the influence Dead or Alive had on dance music, as well as gender-fluidity, cannot be understated. It is with great love and admiration that Party Favorz inducts Dead or Alive into the Diva Hall of Fame as well as our Legacy artists edition.

Album: Dead or Alive | The Diva Series

Genre: Dance, Hi-NRG

Year: 2018

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