Michael Keith Winston "Binky" McKenzie is a former musician. During the 1960s he played and recorded with several musicians such as

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major in ...

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaug ...

, Pete Brown,

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

Vincent Crane Vincent Rodney Cheesman (21 May 194314 February 1989), known professionally as Vincent Crane, was an English keyboardist, best known as the organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster. Crane co-wrote "Fire", the 1968 hit sin ...

and

Duffy Power Duffy Power (born Raymond Leslie Howard; 9 September 1941 – 19 February 2014) was an English blues and rock and roll singer, who achieved some success in the 1960s and continued to perform and record intermittently later. Career Ray Howard w ...

. In 1972 he was convicted for the manslaughter of his parents and brother-in-law and detained at

Broadmoor Hospital Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure ...

Early life

His parents were UK immigrants from

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, formerly

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

. Accompanied by his mother Edna, he arrived in the UK from British Guiana on 18 April 1950 as a two-year-old infant. His father, Winston McKenzie, was a jazz bass player. His sister, Candy McKenzie, went on to have a successful music career as a backing singer and recorded with a number of artistes including

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

and

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

Career

In late 1966, McKenzie joined

Hughie Flint Hughie Flint (born 15 March 1940, Manchester, Lancashire) is an English drummer, known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 1970s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Ba ...

as a member Alexis Korner's short lived band ''Free At Last'', replacing Cliff Barton on bass guitar. On 31 January 1967, at Philips Studios, Marble Arch, London the trio recorded ''‘Rosie’''. It was released as a single on the Fontana record label in April 1967 (TF 817). Flint remembered McKenzie as "an amazing guy, very young and undisciplined". In the mid 1960s, McKenzie became friends with

. In January 1967, they played together on the

composition "Just Stay Blue". McLaughlin recommended McKenzie to

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

due to his bass playing abilities. McLaughlin composed the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

number "Binky's Beam" as a tribute to McKenzie. It has an unusual 15/8 time signature and featured on McLaughlin's 1969 album ''Extrapolation''. McLaughlin states in the liner notes “this is dedicated to Binky McKenzie, one of the greatest bass players." During this period McKenzie was dating Anne Fraser, sister of

Andy Fraser Andrew McIan Fraser (3 July 1952 – 16 March 2015) was a British musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist and co-composer for the rock band Free, which he helped found in 1968 when he was 15. He also founded the rock band Sharks ...

who went on to become the bass player and songwriter with the group Free. McKenzie would often visit the Fraser's home in Horndean Close, Roehampton, London. Fraser would leave his own bass guitar lying around the house in the hope that McKenzie would pick it up and play. Fraser always maintained that Binky McKenzie had a significant influence on his own bass playing. In November 2014, Andy Fraser said of McKenzie: “He was an incredible bass player. And when I say incredible, I mean incredible. He was like the next

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

on bass. But he had some kind of chip on his shoulder and drugs seemed to make it worse. I would listen to him (at home) from the other room and learn all I could, absorb every little thing. He was literally a genius and he was playing with people like

, taking over from

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...

, and he was like, wow, this guy is something else. His younger brother played guitar and both of them introduced me to lots of other musicians in their area, North London” McKenzie also recorded sessions with Pete Brown during August 1967 and January 1968. These recordings are held in the archives at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

and include an early version of the track "Politician" which subsequently appeared on the

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

album, ''

Wheels of Fire ''Wheels of Fire'' is the third album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in the US in June 1968 as a two-disc vinyl LP, with one disc recorded in the studio and the other recorded live. It was released in the UK on August 9. It ...

''. Brown later recalled: “I thought he was way ahead of his time. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, because at the time, black musicians had a hard time of it. The openings were so few, it didn’t matter how good you were. But he was such an innovator on the bass. Binky did drugs. Not much, just personal use. But his parents got very heavy about it and called the police in (during 1968) and Binky did time. When he came out of the ‘nick’ (prison), he was one very, very angry young man indeed.” In 1969 McLaughlin also referred to this initial period of incarceration in the liner notes to ‘Extrapolation’, saying at the time he felt that Binky had been “unjustly jailed with his brother Bunny”.

Siege at Olive Road

On Thursday 29 July 1971 at the family home in Cricklewood, North West London, McKenzie went on a violent rampage. He killed his mother Edna, father Winston, and brother-in-law Richard Sims. All victims were stabbed multiple times. His younger sister Candy was also stabbed and seriously injured but survived the attack. Shortly after the killing spree the house was surrounded by armed police. McKenzie barricaded himself inside the bathroom using a variety of items including a wardrobe and two double basses. A siege ensued lasting four-and-a-half hours. A police marksman went into the attic with a

CS gas The compound 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called ''o''-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile; chemical formula: C10H5ClN2), a cyanocarbon, is the defining component of tear gas commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agent ...

gun. He bored a hole through the bathroom ceiling and fired a

shell into the room. McKenzie immediately rushed out on to the landing holding a knife in each hand. Four policemen struggled to overpower him. He was eventually restrained injuring a policeman in the process.

Sentence

At the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

in March 1972, McKenzie was found guilty on three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He was detained at Broadmoor. McKenzie was 24 years old at the time of the sentence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Binky Living people British jazz musicians Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) People detained at Broadmoor Hospital British people convicted of manslaughter Sieges in the United Kingdom British bass guitarists Year of birth missing (living people) Familicides