R.I.P. Pete Burns

[Orang Utan]

Not the greatest of artists, knew him as a kid, and grew up in my village, dad a manager at Lever Brothers, Mum, German holocaust survivor, used to see him working at Probe Records, feel very old;.

just remembered he came to school once as Alladin Sane, full make up on, he was followed right through the school by the other kids, then asked to leave, blew me away, made me think there were other worlds out there.

i remember a similar event with a kid at our school who at the age of 12 did an impression of Boy George for a school concert. It's only now that I realise how courageous he was. Most of the school were impressed by his turn and cheered and clapped him, but that didn't stop him getting abuse for his sexuality when he was back in the classroom.

 

[treelover]

Yeah, but this episode was nearly ten years earlier!

 

[Orang Utan]

Yeah, but this episode was nearly ten years earlier!

sure, but Bowie, Burns and O'Dowd (and the lad at my school) did much to challenge prejudices, whether is was 1985 or 1975!

 

[treelover]

Although he blew me way, not sure that is how i saw it at the time, you describe them as pioneers, i suppose they were, but I wouldn't lionise any of them.

 

[Orang Utan]

<finding it difficult not to point out treelover 's unintentional innuendo>

 

[elbows]

57 is no age really

Oh I dunno, surviving 30 years past the classic young musician death age of 27 feels like it should be seen as some kind of achievement when it comes to those who clearly did more than their fair share of partying.

All the same yeah I know what you mean really, and RIP Pete Burns.

 

[cantsin]

i'm really sorry to hear this. He was a real character.

read a lot of stuff on twitter about how sound / what a laugh he was IRL

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pete Burns was sweet &amp; hilarious when we met 1981 Cramps UK tour. After fame as well. Fearless obviously! R.I.Pete <a href="https://t.co/LICtR97RYl">https://t.co/LICtR97RYl</a></p>&mdash; Kid Congo Powers (@kidcongopowers) <a href="">24 October 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[billy_bob]

God, I had such a crush on him when I was 18 and aspiring to that kind of androgyny.

Hope he gets all the filthy greasy cocks on motorbikes he can handle, wherever he is now.

 

[hipipol]

this is about him surely?

Style Guy

 

[oryx]

I got introduced to him in about 1982 when he was working in Probe records in Liverpool and my brother was a regular there!

Sad - as others have said, 57 is no age really.

 

[Sirena]

I was working for his management company and I was hanging round reception when a cab driver - a real London son-of-the-soil - turned up.

'I'm picking up Dead or Alive, whatever that is' he said...

Just then, the door opened and Pete Burns and Steve Coy came sailing out in full make-up and maximum camperie.

You just had to be there to see the cab driver's face....

 

[hipipol]

No. Not sure you know what Junkers were.

I know they weren't Fokkers!!!!

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

A nice tribute from Newsthump of all things...

Pete Burns joins David Bowie

The Star Baby has joined the Starman, we are sad to report.

The singer, whose band Dead or Alive has given lazy headline writers an easy shorthand to make light of his death without having to know a great deal about him, is understood to have died of cardiac arrest at the age of 57.

Burns was best known in recent years for appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, where he demonstrated his remarkable talent for making anything fabulous by even managing to make George Galloway look comparatively normal.

However, people who knew his work remember Burns for a very different reasons; a moment of quite inexpressible joy dancing to his music in a rain of balloons one New Years Eve, surrounded by people who had in their turn been given permission to be strange and different at a time when these things were less accepted.

By simply not giving the faintest crap what other people thought of him or his actions Burns gave others the confidence and power to express themselves in ways they otherwise would not have dreamed, and it is that simple contribution that is his finest legacy and it is to be hoped there’s a special place where complete weirdos congregate in the afterlife, as he’ll fit right in.

The last thing Pete would want is for people to be too sad at the news of his death. That would make him spin in his grave.

Spin right round.

Like a record, baby.

Right round.

 

[krtek a houby]

I saw him around my neighborhood a few times this year, he moved to Kilburn after he got evicted for failing to pay his rent. A bit of a frightful sight first thing in the morning at Sainsburys, to be honest. Sad that he died but unlike with some celebrity deaths this year, not much of a surprise. His life appeared to be a mess.

Yeah, I saw him knocking about Notting Hill a few years ago. He was quite the character. Shockingly young, as so many are of late.

 

[sojourner]

Fucking shame

 

[killer b]

This article by Bill Drummond about Pete burns and the Liverpool Eric's scene and allsorts is fantastic.

Remembrance Sunday | Liverpool Confidential

 

[Smokeandsteam]

This article by Bill Drummond about Pete burns and the Liverpool Eric's scene and allsorts is fantastic.

Remembrance Sunday | Liverpool Confidential

I read this last night, a brilliant piece.

You can almost smell the Mersey, hear the music and feel the heat of Eric's. Wonderfully warm and oddly - for him - nostalgic.