Associates

An exception to my usual rule of only posting my own pictures, here’s something that just happened to catch my eye somewhere on-line a few years ago. It’s a scan of a page from some 1982 teen magazine, part of a fashion spread with a photo of the late Billy MacKenzie with one of his Associates, Martha Ladly. I’m not sure which magazine exactly. Sheila Rock is credited as the photographer.

Once in a while I’ll spend some time listening to MacKenzie’s singing and feel sad all over again he died so young. Prior to teaming up with him, Ladly had been a member of Martha and the Muffins – not the Martha who sang, but the Muffins' keyboardist who also happened to go by that name. MacKenzie is widely believed to be the subject of The Smiths' song ‘William, it was Really Nothing’. Ladly had a tenuous connection to another classic Manchester 7": on the label of the A-side of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ is a dedication “For ML” from designer Peter Saville, her boyfriend at the time.