Collins, Brian (19th October 1950-Present)

He is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Texas City, Texas, who started singing at a local tavern before he was a teenager, although unknown to his mother at the time. He played with the rock and roll group The Nomads when he was in junior high school. He settled in Nashville against his mother’s wishes in 1968 and got himself work at The Wheel as a member of their house band trio.

Dolly Parton had encouraged him to go to Nashville in 1967, and call her when he got there, after she had heard him play when he managed to creep backstage to her dressing room to meet her at a concert she was performing in Texas with Porter Wagoner. It was several years later that he managed to meet her again, but this time he was a guest on The Porter Wagoner Show.

He managed to land himself a contract with Mega Records in Nashville not too long after having been there and released his first single. His next releases soon found him success with charting singles such as “There’s a Kind of Hush” and “Time to Spread My Wings”. He signed to Dot Records in the early 1970s and his first single with them, “I Wish You Had Stayed” got into the Top 25.

The second release wasn’t as successful but the one that followed that, “Statue of a Fool”, took him to the No. 1 spot on the country chart in 1974. This success led him to appear on an international tour for UNICEF with Leroy Van Dyke and Tom T. Hall and also performing at the Grand Ole Opry. He credits the singer Johnny Lee with teaching him the song and inspiring him to record it.

He followed with further chart hits such as “I’d Still Be in Love With You”, “Queen of Temptation”, “Sweet Memories” and “That’s the Way Love Should Be”. He recorded for RCA from 1978 but achieved no further success, so went onto the Primero Records label in the early 1980s, having a couple of minor chart hits, but in 1983 he retired from the music business when he became a born again Christian.

He toured for four years as a gospel singer and preacher and later on took up a career in finance as a Regional Sales Manager. He did this line of work for several years, but after moving back to Texas in recent years he decided to go back into concentrating on music in the form of songwriting and recording again.

He has appeared on several album releases during his career including his own That’s theWay Love Should Be, This is Brian Collins and the compilations History of the Texas Garage Bands in the ‘60s, Vol. 2: The Orbit Years and The ABC Collection.

As a songwriter he was the co-writer with his bass player, Robby Campbell, of the song “Hello Texas” which was recorded by Jimmy Buffett for the Grammy nominated soundtrack of the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and the debut single from his latest album,“Farewell, Mr. Guitar Man” was co-written as a tribute to the great guitar legends.

He worked on his new album Canned Goods after having been away from the studio for a decade and his songs have been once again appearing on country radio stations.

Jimmy Buffett recordings
Hello Texas (Brian Collins/Robby Campbell)
(Asylum E-47073-A mono/stereo) (US Promo 45)

Sources:

Collins, Brian (19th October 1950-Present)

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