Editing The Associates (band) (section)

===1997–present: Legacy releases===
MacKenzie committed suicide in 1997 at age 39, shortly after the death of his mother.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article1599059.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617010515/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article1599059.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 June 2011|title=Billy Mackenzie Tribute|last=Dalton|first=Stephen|work=[[The Times]]| date=2 April 2007|access-date=3 June 2009 | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://sport.scotsman.com/modernchristians/Dead-rockers-and-our-inner.2295236.jp | title=Dead rockers and our inner ghouls | work=The Scotsman |date=18 January 2002 |access-date=31 July 2014}}</ref> He had been suffering from [[clinical depression]]. He was contemplating a comeback at the time with material co-written with Aungle. The albums ''Beyond the Sun'' (1997) and ''Eurocentric'' (2000) were released posthumously and, in 2004, reconstructed and expanded with new unreleased songs into the two albums ''Auchtermatic'' and ''Transmission Impossible''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Billy Mackenzie: Transmission Impossible|url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/billy-mackenzie-transmission-impossible/|website=PopMatters.com}}</ref>

Before MacKenzie's death, almost all Associates records had been deleted. Former band member [[Michael Dempsey]] and the MacKenzie estate began a reissue programme to make sure the band's legacy continued, reissuing almost every Associates album, including a 25th anniversary edition of ''The Affectionate Punch'' in 2005. In addition to the original albums, two [[compilation album]]s were released: ''Double Hipness'' (2000), a collection of early tracks with the 1993 reunion demos; and ''Singles'' (2004), an extended version of ''Popera – The Singles Collection'' which caught up with post-1990 material and included the cover of Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging". In 2002, ''The Glamour Chase'' (recorded in the years 1985–87) was finally released as a set titled ''The Glamour Chase & Perhaps''. Finally, ''Wild and Lonely'' and MacKenzie's solo album ''Outernational'' were repackaged with bonus tracks in 2006.

The Tom Doyle book ''The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie'', first published in 1998 and reissued in 2011, documented the band's career and MacKenzie's subsequent life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/book-reviews/the-glamour-chase-by-tom-doyle|title=The Glamour Chase by Tom Doyle - The Skinny|website=Theskinny.co.uk}}</ref>

Rankine died on 3 January 2023 at age 64.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/alan-rankine-of-the-associates-dies-aged-64-tmrv32wqw | archive-url=https://archive.today/20230104011339/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/alan-rankine-of-the-associates-dies-aged-64-tmrv32wqw | url-status=live | archive-date=2023-01-04 |title=Alan Rankine of the Associates dies aged 64|website=[[The Times]]|access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref>