Singer Pete Burns, best known as the frontman of '80s new wave goths Dead or Alive, has died of a cardiac arrest at age 57. Burns, known for an androgynous style that earned comparisons to Boy George, was the voice of hits including "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" (1984) and "Brand New Lover" (1986). (Rolling Stone)

Today's Nico news

A forthcoming biopic will focus on the last years of Nico’'s life. Nico, 1988 focuses on the German singer's solo career in 1987 and 1988, the year she died at age 48. "Most people think, as Andy Warhol once said, that after her experience with Velvet Underground and the Factory — and after having had sex with most of the rock stars of those years — Nico simply 'became a fat junkie' and disappeared," says the film's director Susanna Nicchiarelli. "But is this how her life really went?" (Rolling Stone)

John Cale has announced a second concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classical album The Velvet Underground and Nico. The first took place this past April in Paris, and had Cale performing the album with guests including Animal Collective and the Libertines. The next show will take place in Liverpool on May 26, with special guests to be announced. (Pitchfork)

Minneapolis photographer Allen Beaulieu is suing Crystal studio owner Clint Stockwell over 3,000 photographs of Prince taken by Beaulieu in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Beaulieu says he gave the photos to Stockwell to scan for reproduction, and Stockwell never returned the photos. For his part, Stockwell is demanding $24,000, saying Beaulieu never paid him for a year of repair, restoration, and archiving. (KSTP)

Documents pertaining to the investigation of Prince's death will remain sealed until at least April 2017. That's the result of a court order granted on the basis that the release of the information could compromise the authorities' ongoing investigation. (Fox 9)

Brian May cancels tour dates, citing illness

Brian May has cancelled all his remaining 2016 tour dates, citing an unspecified "persistent illness." The 69-year-old Queen guitarist said, in a note posted to his website, that the illness is "destroying my energy and my will." Still, May seems optimistic about his recovery prospects: "I must take time off to heal, rather than go out on tour again and risk falling down on the job, which would be much worse." (Billboard)

Lin-Manuel Miranda to help Decemberists reissue Crane Wife

Decemberists fan Lin-Manuel Miranda is writing an essay to accompany a reissue of the band's 2006 album The Crane Wife. The reissue, out Dec. 9, will be a five-album set including the original release on two discs, plus a 20-page booklet, a concert DVD, and "three records of rare b-sides, bonus tracks, and previously unreleased material," reports Pitchfork.

Metallica release new song with Halloween mask

To promote their upcoming album Hardwired...To Self-Destruct (Nov. 18), Metallica are handing out free limited-edition Halloween masks. Inside each mask is a code that will allow listeners to hear the band's new song "Atlas, Rise!" 30 minutes in advance of its 3 p.m. release on Halloween. (Pitchfork) The masks will be available — starting Friday — at several Minnesota record stores: both Electric Fetus locations (Minneapolis and Duluth), all three Down in the Valley locations, Barely Bros., Know Name, Mill City Sound, and Treehouse Records.