Pete Shelley (17 April 1955 - 6 December 2018) born Peter Campbell McNeish, in Leigh, Lancashire was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the singer of the Buzzcocks. Shelley formed the Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto after the two met at Bolton Institute of Technology (now the University of Bolton) in 1975 and subsequently travelled to London to see the Sex Pistols. The Buzzcocks split in 1981 and reformed in 1989. Shelley made 5 solo albums.
He died in his home in Estonia in December 2018.[1]
Links To Peel
Peel was a fan of the Buzzcocks and also was interested in Pete Shelley's initial solo career. In 2005, Shelley re-recorded the Buzzcocks "Ever Fallen in Love" with an all-star group, including Roger Daltrey, David Gilmour, Peter Hook, Elton John, Robert Plant and several contemporary bands, as a tribute to John Peel. Proceeds went to Amnesty International, Peel's favourite charity.
Shelley in an interview with The Quietus in 2015 mentioned listening to Peel's show in the early 70's, where he would play many experimental music, which influenced him to make his own music:
- "I used to listen to John Peel, he was always playing a whole side of Phaedra and stuff like that. I was into electronics at college, and you'd buy the magazines with diagrams in them of things you could make, one of which was a simple thing where you could get one of those etch resist pens and a sheet of plastic with copper on one side, and you could draw your circuit on this, then put it in an acid bath to dissolve the copper, except for the bits where you'd drawn this thing, and then you could solder your components in, and you ended up with this thing that made a siren noise." [2]
Shows Played
Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça
- 1981
- 09 September 1981: Homosapien (7") Genetic WIP 6720
- 05 November 1981: I Don't Know What It Is (7") Island
- 1982
- 01 February 1982: I Generate A Feeling (album - Homosapien) Genetic
- 03 February 1982 (Karl's Tape - Early February 1982): Qu'est-Ce Que C'est Que Ça
- 19 February 1982 (BBC World Service): Yesterday's Not Here (album - Homosapien) Genetic
- 26 February 1982 (BBC World Service): Yesterday's Not Here (album - Homosapien) Genetic
- 03 March 1982: Qu'est-Ce Que C'est Que Ça (nsnS Dub Mix) (split 7" flexi with Animal Magnet - Qu'est-Ce Que C'est Que Ça / Amor) New Sounds New Styles
- 22 March 1982: Qu'est-Ce Que C'est Que Ça (nsnS Dub Mix) (split 7" with Animal Magnet - Qu'est-Ce Que C'est Que Ça / Amor) New Sounds New Styles
- 1983
- 08 February 1983: Telephone Operator (7") Genetic
- 16 February 1983 (BFBS): Telephone Operator (12") Genetic
- 16 February 1983 (BFBS): Many A Time (Extended Version) (12" - Telephone Operator) Genetic
- Karl's Tape April 1983: Millions Of People (No One Like You) (7" ) Genetic Records
- 1988
- 09 August 1988: Straight 'A's In Love (v/a LP - 'Til Things Are Brighter...A Tribute To Johnny Cash) Red Rhino
