Dundee flat fall woman was Billy MacKenzie’s sister

File photo of Scottish singer Billy Mackenzie. Picture: TSPL

Elizabeth McIntosh – known as Lizzie – died in Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital after being rushed to the hospital following what is believed to have been a tragic accident.

The 51-year-old sister of the Scottish cult music star was the fourth sibling to die in tragic circumstances since MacKenzie, the former lead singer with the Associates, took his own life in 1997 following the death of his mother, Lily.

Ms McIntosh, 51, is understood to have fallen from a window on the second floor of the tenement in the city’s Lyon Street in the early hours of Monday. She was taken by ambulance to Ninewells where she later died from her injuries.

Her brother Billy, who had a string of hits with the Associates in the early 1980s, was only 39 when he died in January 1997 after taking a drugs overdose.

He was discovered in a shed, close to his home in the Auchterhouse area of Dundee, by his father, Jim, who said at the time he had been having problems coming to terms with his mother’s recent death.

In October, 2010, another brother, John MacKenzie, 46, was pronounced dead in the city’s Ninewells Hospital after being found lying in the living room of his smoke-filled flat, unconscious and unresponsive, by firefighters. Another brother, Jimmy, was 32 when he died in October 2001 of an overdose only days after being released from prison. Their father was 66 when he died of cancer in 2004.

The only surviving members of the MacKenzie family are brother Alex, 44, and sister Helen, 46. A family friend, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s awful. I feel terrible for Alex and Helen. It’s heartbreaking for them.”

Flowers have been left at the entrance to the block of flats in tribute to Ms McIntosh.

A spokeswoman for the Tayside division of Police Scotland said: “A woman – understood to be in her early 50s – has died after falling from a flat in Lyon Street, Dundee. The woman was taken to Ninewells Hospital, where she died.”

She continued: “The woman’s details will not be released until she has been formally identified and next of kin have been fully informed. Inquiries are continuing and Police Scotland would like to appeal to anyone who witnessed the incident to contact them on 101, or speak to any officer.”

The Associates, comprising MacKenzie and Alan Rankine, had their biggest hits in 1982 with the UK top ten album Sulk and UK top 20 singles Party Fears Two and Club Country.

Rankine left the band in 1982 just before the Sulk tour. Mackenzie continued to write and record music under the name Associates until 1990.

However, recordings were sporadic and subsequent Associates records failed to reach the charts in the UK and sold far fewer than their early albums.