Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist.
[4] The band included bass guitarist Steve Diggle and drummer John Maher; they made their first appearance in 1976 in Manchester, opening for the Sex Pistols.
[10] Shelley developed a different personal image from many of his rebellious 1970s punk contemporaries, telling Melody Maker in 1978, "I won't be nasty.
It was recorded as a continuous piece of music using a purpose-built oscillator, and used layered electronics and playback speed manipulation to achieve its experimental feel.
[14] Also released on Groovy Records was the soundtrack LP Hangahar by Sally Timms and Lindsay Lee, which included Shelley as a musician, and an album by artists Eric Random, Barry Adamson and Francis Cookson under the name Free Agents.
[16] Shortly after the success of "Ever Fallen In Love....", Shelley produced an EP by Manchester band Mellatron, including Dave Tucker and Karl Burns, both at various times members of The Fall, but it was never released, after the record label's owner was arrested and the master tapes disappeared.
[21] Shelley talked openly about his bisexuality at this time,[22] which had been implicit in many of the songs he had written, but now came to wider attention due to "Homosapien" and the BBC ban.
As well as the minor hit "Telephone Operator", the album included a computer program for the ZX Spectrum with lyrics and graphics that displayed in time to the music.
He then moved to Tallinn, Estonia, in 2012 after marrying Greta, an Estonian, preferring the less-hectic pace there to London where he had lived for nearly 30 years.
[37][38] Tributes to Shelley came from a diverse range of music industry professionals, including Pearl Jam, Duff McKagan, Pixies, Billy Talent, Peter Hook, Duran Duran, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Joyce, Noel Gallagher, Gary Kemp, Flea, Mike Mills, Ginger Wildheart, Glen Matlock and Stuart Braithwaite.
Musician Billy Bragg paid tribute to Shelley, covering Buzzcocks', "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)", on 7 December 2018 at the Meredith Music Festival.