Billy Mackenzie
William MacArthur MacKenzie (27 March 1957 – 22 January 1997) was a Scottish singer and songwriter, known for his distinctive high tenor voice. He was the co-founder and lead vocalist of post-punk and new wave band the Associates. He also had a brief solo career releasing his debut studio album, Outernational, in 1992, his only solo album released during his lifetime.[1]
For the motocross racer, see Billy MacKenzie (motorcyclist).
Billy Mackenzie
William MacArthur MacKenzie
27 March 1957
Dundee, Scotland
22 January 1997 (aged 39)
Auchterhouse, Angus, Scotland
- Singer
- songwriter
- Vocals
- guitar
1976–1997
Collaborations[edit]
MacKenzie collaborated with many other artists during his career. He had a fruitful partnership with Paul Haig of Josef K, the result being low key dates in Glasgow and Edinburgh during the mid-1980s, which mixed their own best known songs with covers of songs such as Sly and the Family Stone's "Runnin' Away" and Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice". Later the pair united to perform "Amazing Grace" on a Scots Hogmanay television programme, and each donated a song to the other's forthcoming studio album. "Chained" proved a highlight on the next Haig album, although MacKenzie's version of "Reach the Top" remained unreleased after the Associates' The Glamour Chase project was shelved by WEA. Following Mackenzie's untimely death in 1997 an entire album of Haig and MacKenzie material, Memory Palace, appeared on Haig's own label Rhythm of Life.
In 1987, he wrote lyrics for two tracks on Yello's fifth studio album One Second: "Moon on Ice", which he sang himself, and "The Rhythm Divine", which was sung by Shirley Bassey and was released as a single. A version sung by MacKenzie was released on the cassette and CD versions of Associates' Popera compilation album. MacKenzie also collaborated with B.E.F. (British Electric Foundation) for their two albums Music of Quality and Distinction Volume One (1982) & Volume Two (1991). His final recording was the song "Pain in Any Language", with electronic music group Apollo 440. The band made a dedication to Mackenzie in the album notes to the studio album Electro Glide in Blue (1997).