Billy MacKenzie: 'Voice of an angel'

Billy MacKenzie (27th March 1957 – 22nd January 1997) was a singer best known as a founder member of The Associates, the band he formed in Dundee with guitarist Alan Rankine. Given his prodigious multi-octave range, once heard, it was impossible to forget the Scottish vocalist.

The band experimented with unorthodox instrumentation and recording techniques, including sounds amplified through the tube of a vacuum cleaner on the track "Kitchen Person" in 1981. "Party Fears Two", "Club Country" and "18 Carat Love Affair" remain some of the most distinctive singles to come out of Britain in the early Eighties. The band experimented with unorthodox instrumentation and recording techniques, including sounds amplified through the tube of a vacuum cleaner on the track "Kitchen Person" in 1981. Artists who have covered "Party Fears Two" include the Divine Comedy, Dan Bryk, King Creosote and Heaven 17. The Associates released their most commercially successful album, Sulk, in 1982. Martha Ladly of Martha and the Muffins contributed backing vocals and keyboards.

   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGtw9_XeIss]     ’Party Fears Two’ from 1982 on Top of the Pops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKGILVilIlI    Dundee repertory theatre's trailer for 'Balgay Hill', a play based on a biography of Billy, 'The Glamour Chase' by Tom Doyle.

Billy interviewed on the Tube    

http://www.billymackenzie.com/rcinterview.htm  In July1994 Billy gave one of his last formal interviews. Gilbert Blecken asked the questions