Before forming Dead or Alive, Burns was a member of the short-lived Mystery Girls, and then Nightmares in Wax, an early proto-goth, semi-punk group that formed in Liverpool around 1980. Nightmares in Wax put out a 12" single, "Black Leather," and a 7" single, "Birth of a Nation," each containing the same three songs, but never did an album. Burns has accused fellow pop star Boy George of copying his style and mainstreaming his unique image, although the pair have since buried the hatchet with Burns guesting on O'Dowd's radio show '...and another thing'.

Read more about Pete Burns on Last.fm.