Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Associates were a Scottish pop band of the early 1980s. The band members were: Billy Mackenzie. - Vocals. Alan Rankine - Instruments. They had several hits that made it to at least the Top 20 of the British charts, including "Party Fears Two," "18 Karat Love Affair," and "Club Country." The band also produced several critically acclaimed albums. Lead singer Billy Mackenzie, became renowned for his wacky vocal style, and he achieved a cult following, eventually becoming involved with Swiss avant garde outfit Yello. During his tenure with Yello he sang backing vocals on "The Rhythm Divine" with Shirley Bassey. Tragically Billy Mackenzie committed suicide in 1997 aged 39, after suffering from depression. He was contemplating a comeback at the time. External Links An Associates website Worked With Apollo Four Forty Barry Adamson B.E.F Boris Grebenshikov Holger Hiller Yello This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.