Pete Shelley, Singer of Punk Pioneers the Buzzcocks, Dead at 63 | Page 2 | Revolver

Pete Shelley, Singer of Punk Pioneers the Buzzcocks, Dead at 63

Influential musician suspected to have died from heart attack
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Pete Shelley, lead singer of U.K. punk band the Buzzcocks is dead at age 63. BBC reported the musician's death after being informed by the band's management that Shelley died Thursday in Estonia, where he was living at the time. While no cause of death has yet been officially determined, BBC speculates he died via a heart attack. 

The Buzzcocks were formed in 1976 by Shelley in Bolton, England. The group opened the Sex Pistols' second Manchester concert ever, in July of 1976. They were the first punk band to have their own record label, releasing debut EP Spiral Scratch on New Hormones. The Buzzcocks were also one of the first acts to combine pop-style guitar work with the political edge of punk rock, planting the seeds for pop punk, and they would serve as a core influence for many big names including Nirvana and Green Day. 

In addition to the Buzzcocks, Shelley also wrote the music for the intro of the Tour De France, which was used on Great Britain's Channel 4 throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His final full-length album was Cinema Music and Wallpaper Sounds, a solo album released back in 2016.