The Glamour Chase: Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie

This is among the very best music biographies. Mackenzie had an uncanny, natural, wide-range tenor that the microphone loved. He also had a wild, furious imagination (music and lyrics flowed out of him like a conduit from God). However, like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, when he was good he was very very good, when he was bad he was horrid. With Alan Rankine he formed The Associates, creating brief top-pop music stardom, then sliding into obscurity when Billy would not tour to support the albums. There was a deep unsolvable conflict in Mackenzie, probably related to his non-self-acceptance as both genius and bisexual, that left a history of false starts, record company dismissals, endless glimpses of the greatness lurking within and a pattern of self-sabotage that at the time of his suicide in 1997 left him obscure and marginalized in the industry, and a footnote to record buyers. Billy was a bona-fide savant musically, able to sing and write anything from classic ballads to acid-trip punk ravings and everything in between, but he could or would not take the responsibility of working within the music industry paradigm seriously. In hindsight, he suffered from undiagnosed severe depression, and every (self-induced) professional setback only fueled his rage and isolation. His family of mother and siblings was important to him, and the early and unexpected death of his mother was the event that caused Billy's final downfall. There are heartbreaking scenes in the book where Bill is absolutely lost and in shock and in pain, grieving, but expected to put on a reassuring act for others, to hide the full extent of his misery. His last singing gig was at an old-folks home, dragged there by his father, to cheer up the inmates. Shortly thereafter Papa Mackenzie found his son's cold body in a shed, clutching a book of family photos, dead of a drug overdose. Seek out the cds and records--it really is an amazing legacy, a unique catalog of styles and lyrics, sung by that unreal voice that never lived up to its (commercial) potential. As Tom Doyle writes, Billy was in part too far ahead of the curve in his lifetime: the age of iconoclasts like Bjork and the like was a few years off, and the ageism in the music industry hadn't quite dissipated enough for a musical jack-of-all-trades in his forties to be considered a viable ongoing pop proposition. Above all, this is a cautionary tale: take note when your mate or your brother is in emotional trouble: depression kills, but not if there's intervention of the loving kind that's supportive and interested in what the sufferer has to say. If Billy had been able to ride through the trough of his mother's death and latest career disappointments he might have lived to make even more brilliant music, and that is the saddest thing of all: what might have been.

I bought this for my wife who is a huge fan of Billy McKenzie (RIP) and the Associates. I did well actually as I was hoping that she didn't already have it and I was right. I'm reviewing based on her comments and she said it was a brilliant read and that she really enjoyed it. If you are a fan of the late Mr McKenzie's work, or a fan of 80's synth pop or Scottish pop then you should enjoy it.

Man hat das Gefühl Billy Mackenzie kennenzulernen. Auf eine ehrliche und unaufgeregte Art, ohne dass er auf einen künstlichen Sockel gestellt wird. Der Sockel ergibt sich von selbst, gerade weil er so menschlich dargestellt wird. Mit Fehlern und Verfehlungen. Es scheint, als sei er ein Familienmensch durch und durch gewesen. Er war gesegnet mit einer so wunderbaren Stimme und einem großen Talent.Es ist so(!) traurig, dass er keinen anderen Weg für sich sah, als den Selbstmord!!! Nun bleibt die wunderbare Musik, die so viel von seinem vielseitigem Wesen zeigt. Hätte ich die Möglichkeit, würde ich dieses so wunderbar geschriebene Buch verfilmen. Tom Doyle hat eine ganz besondere Art zu schreiben. Er beschreibt Mackenzie und sein Leben in einem manchmal ironischen Stil, der jedoch nie entwertend oder herablassend klingt. Er kannte Billy. Er kennt seine Familie, sein Umfeld und beschreibt in diesem Buch seine eigene Jugend im schottischen Dundee. Es kommt eine besondere Stimmung rüber, weil man so viel erfährt über die schottische Musikszene in den 80ern.Ein wirklich tolles Buch und nun bin ich überzeugt, dass es auch einen guten Film hergeben würde. Billy ost unvergessen und lebt in seiner Musik weiter! Love it!!!

I was a massive Associates fan back in the day, and really enjoyed reading about Billy McKenzie - one of the best and under rated voices of his generation.

This is a fun book, written by someone who is obviously a fan of Billy MacKenzie and the associates. It's crammed full of details and gossip, and discusses the detailed, almost day-to-day history of the recordings of those classic albums, and even the album that was never released back in the early 80s. For many readers, this would be enough to qualify for 4 or even 5 stars, though I haven't given it those higher ratings just because it's really a telling of the history: It doesn't even try to dig into the deeper character issues and whys and wherefores.But who gives a crap? It's fun, like a good friend telling you a really crazy story.So if you're into the Associates or MacKenzie, don't fail to get yourself one of these: You'll have a ball and learn a lot about a really outrageous and talented character.