Before forming Dead or Alive, Pete 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 3 songs, but never did an album.

Known for his blatant sexuality and flamboyant style, Burns shocked audiences in the 1980s with his androgynous or feminine dress, exotic hairstyles and heavy make-up (although he maintains that he is not a transvestite, and that his wardrobe choices are based on fashion and image rather than sexual enjoyment). Almost as much as his career with Dead or Alive, Burns is known for his ever-changing appearance, which he freely admits has been greatly modified by cosmetic surgery. Burns has had extensive collagen injections in his lips, along with cheek implants, several nose jobs and many tattoos. He revealed in early 2006 that he had spent almost all of his life savings on 18 months of reconstructive surgery after a procedure on his lips went badly wrong.

In December 2003, the BBC apologised to its viewers after Burns swore repeatedly on its pre-9pm watershed Liquid News show when asked about his views on the Michael Jackson trial.

Burns divorced his wife, Lynn, in 2004 after over twenty years of marriage; despite his previous denials of being bisexual, he's been with his boyfriend Michael Simpson ever since, although he enjoyed a brief fling with Indian Bollywood star Shan Mandora. On February 9, 2006, in an interview with Channel 4's Richard and Judy, Pete and Michael publicly announced their engagement, displaying matching rings made for them by the designer Vivienne Westwood. However, only a day after the announcement, Pete said that the engagement was off, as Michael was finding it hard to deal with his new recognition by the public.

Burns appeared on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother 2006 in the UK, eventually coming fifth on the show's final episode. After he claimed - jokingly or not - that his coat was made from gorilla skin, police removed the coat for testing. Ownership of products made from gorilla is illegal in the UK without a licence (tests found the coat was in fact made of Colobus monkeys, another endangered species), and as a result the case was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service who determined that the pelts used to make the coat were imported before 1975 -- when it became illegal to import Colobus fur -- and as such will not be pressing charges. This however upset animal rights campaigners.

In 2004, Pete enjoyed a minor solo hit in the form of the Pet Shop Boys produced single "Jack and Jill Party", which reached #75 in the UK singles chart and received considerable club play; on February 5th, 2006, "You Spin Me Round", released once again after Pete's Big Brother appearance, re-entered the UK charts at #5.

March 2006: Pete is currently planning his wedding to his long term partner and is undergoing therapy for depression. April 2006: Pete Burns' long awaited autobiography Freak Unique is released and is selling well.