I don’t want to make this post about me because it really isn’t, but I always dreamed of interviewing Pete Burns.

I guess it was on my bucket list. I presumed he wouldn’t be an easy ride, a frosty guest, a challenge. By no means an easy job, but most certainly an exciting and intriguing one. 

For me anyway, the best pop stars are the most daring ones: artists that don’t compromise on artistic integrity and musicians that do it their own way without changing or bowing down to critics, record labels or management. I love that true punk spirit, and Pete Burns had an overflow of it.

I never met him but I did see him live a few times. He had stage presence aplenty and a casual, effortless sense of knowing what he was doing. A true pro. His no-bullshit attitude and honest approach to things or people he had no care for was both uncomfortable and brilliant to watch. He wasn’t always kind about people. He definitely didn’t mince his words, but often he had a valid point. He either liked you or he didn’t, and he was fearless enough to tell you if he didn’t and why. His music with Dead Or Alive was not only vibrant and hooky, it managed to ride that often idiosyncratic blend of commercial success with a dark underbelly. Visually, of course, Burns was stark, bold, unconventional and striking. Mad, bad and dangerous to know.

He was an entertainer in more ways than one.

Pete Burns

1959-2016