Sunday, July 27, 2014

Billy Mackenzie

Billy Mackenzie was a singer with The Associates, famous for his operatic voice and love of whippets,berets and, tragically, for his suicide. 
On 22 January 1997, depression and the death of his mother are believed to have contributed to Mackenzie's suicide. He overdosed on a combination of paracetamol and prescription medication in the garden shed of his father's house in Auchterhouse. He was 39 years old. Now a significant cult figure, much of his musical legacy has been released in the past few years.
A particularly enjoyable story is that when he was dropped by his record label, they called him into the London office to tell him. Mackenzie argued that the least they could do after that was to pay for his taxi ride home, so they agreed; the record company assumed he lived in London, whereas Mackenzie actually lived in Scotland and took a taxi all the way there at the company's expense.
Thanks, Jon

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