Pete Shelley

Not only did Pete Shelley make history as the front man for the Buzzcocks, he managed to reinvent himself musically with his subsequent solo career, starting a whole new chapter before taking yet another unexpected turn and reuniting his old band. Shelley was born Peter McNeish in Lancashire, England on April 17, 1955. Even before forming the Buzzcocks, he was making innovative music - in 1974 he recorded Sky Yen, an album of minimalist electronics, though it wouldn't see wide release until 1980. In 1976 he and singer Howard Devoto started the Buzzcocks together, but after the band's pioneering 1977 debut EP Spiral Scratch, a key influence on England's DIY movement, Devoto left to form Magazine. Shelley took the reins, and pushed punk beyond its stylistic borders by mixing it with a highly melodic pop sensibility that would influence future generations of punk-pop bands. Over the next couple of years, the Buzzcocks released a seminal string of singles and three classic albums, as well as 1979's Singles Going Steady, considered one of rock's finest singles collections. After the Buzzcocks' breakup in '81, Shelley quickly took a surprising turn by scoring a U.S. dance hit with the synth-pop single "Homosapien." The song, initially banned by the BBC for what they deemed salacious lyrics about gay sex, more overtly underlined Shelley's bisexuality, which was only hinted at in his Buzzcocks lyrics. His LP of the same name was ubiquitous in new wave circles, and he followed it up in 1983 with XL 1, scoring another dance hit with the single "Telephone Operator." He released one more solo album in 1986, and then reformed the classic lineup on the Buzzcocks in '89 for a tour. After that he never put the Buzzcocks aside, releasing several albums with the band, starting with 1993's Trade Test Transmissions. Shelley returned to his love of electronic instrumentals when he finally released a fourth solo record, Cinema Music and Wallpaper Sounds, in 2016. He remained active with the Buzzcocks until his death of a heart attack on December 6, 2018, at the age of 63.