Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Andre studied at the American School of Brasília between 1978 and 1980, when his father was the ambassador of South Africa in Brazil. He met Renato Russo in 1978, in a famous bar in Asa Sul de Brasilia, called Taberna. Later, he formed with Renato and Fê Lemos, the punk rock band Aborto Elétrico, still in 1978. Together with Renato and the brothers Lemos (Fê and Flávio), he was one of the authors of Urban Music. On January 11, 1980, he participated in the first show of the band but left the group after the show. Almost six feet tall, with blue eyes and almost white hair so blond, Andre was the sex symbol of the class.

"He was one thing! He remembered Billy Idol, but he was much prettier!" - compares the fashion company Helena Resende, one of the girls who most lived with the brasiliense group.

Forced by his parents, Pretorius returns to South Africa, still a country driven by apartheid, to provide mandatory two-year military service. He participates in combat training to face the guerrillas in Mozambique and Angola and spends two years working in the South African intelligence service. He returned to Brasilia in 1982.

"When he returned to Brazil, he was a different person, tormented," analyzes Virginia ("Ginny") Hines (born Virginia of Rio Branco), then the girlfriend of Pretorius and his future wife. When he returns to Brazil, he decides to take over his girlfriend who is bisexual.

Soon he would move again, now to Washington, D.C., where he attended American University in 1983, continuing to play with brothers Alex and Philippe Seabra. Shortly after moving to Washington, Andre marries Virginia. After his divorce and separation from his friend Alex Seabra, he begins to make heavy use of heroin.

He moves to Frankfurt, to live with his maternal grandmother and work in a recording studio. He dies of overdose of heroin - like his idol Sid Vicious - on October 13, 1988. Some say that Pretorius committed suicide, but this version is not confirmed.

Some of his compositions, among them partnerships previously unreleased with Renato Russo, are recorded on cassettes called Radio Leukemia and kept with affection by friends. "Of all the boys who frequented our house, he was the most special, very sweet and sad," recalls Dona Carminha Manfredini, mother of Renato.