Alumni of Burnage High School (including the old Burnage Grammar School) include Roger Byrne, captain of the Manchester United "Busby Babes" and England international who was one of the victims of the 1958 Munich air disaster; Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, noted international architect; Wes Brown, current Kerala Blasters FC and England player; Ian Wilson, guitarist and member of 70s rock band Sad Cafe. Dave Rowbotham, former guitarist of local post-punk groups Durutti Column, The Invisible Girls and The Mothmen, lived there in a flat, where, in November 1991, his dead body was found, after being killed by an axe murderer.