The world of funk and soul was forever altered on September 23, 1974, when the vibrant rhythm of Dundee’s Robbie McIntosh, the extraordinary drummer and founding member of the Average White Band, was tragically silenced.
At just 24 years old, Robbie’s life was cut short in an accidental heroin overdose that left fans and fellow musicians reeling from the sudden loss of such a bright, promising talent.
For Didi Dundee, the widow of Robbie McIntosh, the 50th anniversary of her husband’s death is not just a milestone – it’s a deeply personal journey of love, loss, and remembrance.
But in an exclusive interview with The Courier as she arrived in Dundee to lay flowers on his grave ahead of the 50th anniversary of his death, the now 76-year-old, who hid away for 40 years to escape the trauma of what happened, says she would do it all again.
“Robbie was like this flower that was about to bloom and was cut before it happened,” she says when asked what she thought Robbie’s legacy was, 50 years on.
“I touched heaven and hell in a very short space of time.
“But if I had to live my life again, I’d want the same thing again.”
Robbie’s Dundonian charm captured the heart of Didi when they met as teenagers
Born Edith St Louis, Didi, whose parents were part of the Windrush generation, now uses her artist name, a moniker her late husband affectionately used.
She reminisces about their passionate and tumultuous relationship, which began in the most unconventional way at the Starlight Ballroom in Wembley.
“I was 17, and he was 18 months younger,” Didi recalls with a laugh. “I robbed a cradle!”
Their first encounter was as colourful as their life together would be.
Robbie, with his bold Dundonian charm, made an audacious comment that was “so Scottish”, and Didi, equally audacious, responded in kind. This boldness marked the beginning of a whirlwind romance that would define their lives.
Their story is one of serendipitous meetings and undying love. After their initial encounter, two years passed before they met again in Torino, Italy.
Robbie’s excitement at seeing Didi again – or “Titsy” as she had become known – was palpable.
He ran towards her, and in that moment, her world changed forever.
“He grabbed hold of me, and everything was swirling,” she says, recalling the euphoria of that reunion and how they married at Harrow-on-the Hill in her home town of London in 1971.
Robbie’s death had a profound impact on Didi who ‘fled’ to Spain
Robbie’s tragic death in Hollywood, at the peak of his career, left a void that Didi has felt deeply for the past five decades. The pain was so intense that she fled to Spain, immersing herself in a new culture and language to escape the memories of her past.
“I didn’t want to speak English again,” she confides. “I went to a country where I didn’t understand anyone, and no one understood me.”
She also performed as a singer in the USA and Latin America.
Despite her attempts to escape, the memory of Robbie, who she describes as “sex and life”, remains ever-present. It was his spirit and their shared experiences that eventually drew her back to Dundee.
“The pain of coming to Dundee was too much. It was like I was dying each time,” she says.
Yet, she felt compelled to return, to visit his grave at Barnhill Cemetery, and to ensure there were flowers there on the anniversary of his death.
Determined to honour Robbie’s legacy and Dundee roots
In writing her recently released book, “Pick Up the Pieces,” Didi has found a way to process her grief and celebrate Robbie’s life. “It was my insides coming out in the most therapeutic way,” she explains.
The book is a raw and honest account of their love story, the tragedy of Robbie’s untimely death, and Didi’s journey through the aftermath.
Didi’s resilience and determination to honour Robbie’s memory are evident in her recounting of the difficult times following his death.
“The horrors I can’t talk about now,” she says, alluding to the tragic night when she lost both Robbie and their unborn child.
History records how the incident occurred at a party in Los Angeles, where McIntosh and other band members were present. It was reported that McIntosh ingested heroin, believing it to be cocaine, which led to his fatal overdose.
Didi, who recalls seeing “bodies all over the floor that night”, remains pained at the thought of how Robbie was the only person to die that night.
Fellow band member Alan Gorrie was saved by the intervention of fellow party-goer Cher, who kept him conscious long enough to recover.
In the aftermath, Didi says the record company offered her money to remain silent about the circumstances.
But she refused.
“All I wanted was to listen to that song,” she says, referring to Aretha Franklin’s “Baby Baby Baby,” the song that was playing when Robbie first held her in Italy.
Her refusal to be silenced and her dedication to preserving Robbie’s Average White Band legacy speak to the depth of her love and the strength of her character.
“I don’t know what money is, I know what love is,” she states with conviction. This love has sustained her through the darkest times and has now inspired her to share their story with the world.
Overcoming pain to reconnect with Dundee
Didi says that for a long time, she couldn’t visit Dundee, such were the painful reminders of losing Robbie. In her mind, Robbie was Dundee, and she couldn’t go there.
But now, through laughter and tears of sadness, she feels a sense of connection and closure.
She says it’s ironic that Robbie died in Hollywood. He never met his Hollywood star dad Bonar Colleano, who got Robbie’s mum pregnant during a film shoot in Dundee. Colleano also died young at the top of his career.
But she’s also grateful for the way that Robbie’s Dundee family accepted her in a way that her own family didn’t accept him.
“Black people won’t like me for this – but it’s my truth and my truth is different from everybody else’s,” she says, adding that her father’s father was a Scottish ‘Hamilton’ and her grandmother was the daughter of a slave.
“Dundee 50 years ago had never seen a black person. Imagine a black and white couple? But they embraced us. It was like ‘is this really happening here’? Welcome sweetheart!
“My parents rejected us, whereas his family embraced us. Everybody expects me to say the other way around, but in my case it wasn’t.
“My family rejected him because he was white. My dad used to say to me ‘we’ve been abused by the white man’. My father’s father was from Scotland. Henry Hamilton.
“My father always said they (the whites) abused the females of this race – ‘you are not going to bring a white man into this house’. I heard that since I was 10. When I brought the ‘white man’ to his house, he was not having it. He never met Robbie.
“Yet Robbie’s Scottish family – they came to Spain to be with me. The Scottish family accepted me like I was one of them.”
Didi’s dad was ‘sorry’ for rejecting Robbie because he was white
Didi said that before her dad died, he told her he was sorry. He told her he “didn’t mean any of that” and wanted her to forgive him, which she did.
“He went and bought me a string of pearls,” she says, “and then he died. He realised ‘it’s all rubbish. It’s the modern world. We are all individual, but we are all as one’.”
Despite the tragic circumstances of his death, Robbie’s influence on the music world endures.
His innovative rhythms and soulful drumming continue to inspire new generations of musicians. Didi’s book ensures that his story, both as an artist and as a beloved husband, is remembered and celebrated.
As Didi reflects on her life and the journey that brought her back to Dundee, she expresses gratitude for the love and acceptance she’s found in Robbie’s hometown.
She said Robbie taught her that Dundonians were “brash, strong, in your face -and fearless”.
Yet Robbie’s family showed her that Dundonians could also be “warm and caring”.
“I say ‘thank you Dundee for giving me your son Robbie,” she adds with tears welling in her eyes. “Thank-you Dundee for accepting me when you did and as you did. You made me feel like I was just a human being with no colour, no creed’.
“I believe Robbie is right here right now. He’s always been here with me, and I believe he always will be.”
Pick up the Pieces, by Didi Dundee is available now, published by Austin Macauley, priced £8.99.
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