Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in 1985, Collins started a solo career. His 1994 single "A Girl Like You" was a worldwide hit.
In February 2005, Collins was hospitalised after two cerebral haemorrhages which resulted in aphasia, and he needed months to recover. He resumed his musical career in 2007. A documentary film on his recovery, The Possibilities Are Endless, was released in 2014.
Early life
Edwyn Stephen Collins was born on 23 August 1959 in Edinburgh. He lived in Dundee from the age of six to 14 after his father got a job as a lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. He attended the now-defunct Demonstration School in Park Place, where new educational ideas were tried out by pupils and teachers from the adjacent teacher training college, before moving to the secondary school, Morgan Academy.
Career
Orange Juice
Collins co-founded the band the Nu-Sonics in 1976; The band's debut single, "Falling and Laughing" was issued in February 1980.
After three more singles with Postcard, Orange Juice signed to Polydor Records in October 1981 and released their debut album, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever in March 1982. The song was their only Top 40 single.
The band's two subsequent albums, Texas Fever and The Orange Juice, were both released in 1984.
Solo career to 2005
Collins released two singles for the Elevation label in 1987, both produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, but both failed to enter the UK Singles Chart. As a result, unlike other Elevation signees such as Primal Scream and The Weather Prophets, Collins was not migrated to the main Creation label and he was left without a record label contract.
In 1994, Collins released the single "A Girl Like You", which was a worldwide hit the following year. Two days later, he was admitted to intensive care in London's Royal Free Hospital after apparently suffering a major cerebral haemorrhage. After suffering a second haemorrhage he had an operation on 25 February 2005, which was followed by a lengthy programme of neurological rehabilitation owing to right-sided weakness and difficulty with speech.
Post-cerebral haemorrhage
Collins released his sixth solo album, entitled Home Again, in September 2007 on Heavenly Records.
A BBC Scotland documentary, Edwyn Collins: Home Again, narrated by Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos, was broadcast on 19 May 2008.
On 2 October 2009, Collins's wife and manager Grace Maxwell detailed her "running battle" with Warner Music Group and MySpace over his right to allow fans to listen to "A Girl Like You" for free on his MySpace page.
In November 2009, at a gig in London's Bloomsbury Ballroom, following a tour of the Scottish Highlands, Collins's singing was contrasted with his slow speech: "[W]hen he started to sing, his baritone proved as powerful as ever." On 20 February 2010, he joined The Maccabees onstage at Brixton Academy for their encore, performing vocals on a rendition of "Rip It Up".
Losing Sleep, Collins's first written and recorded album since his 2005 illness, was then released on 13 September 2010 in the UK. The album was recorded at his own West Heath Studios between November 2008 and May 2010, and was produced by Collins and Sebastian Lewsley. Collins and Lewsley first met in 1992, while Collins was producing former Subway Sect frontman Vic Godard's album The End of the Surrey People and Lewsley was his assistant. For the album, he collaborated with The Cribs' Ryan Jarman and Johnny Marr, Franz Ferdinand, The Magic Numbers singer Romeo Stodart, The Drums and Roddy Frame. Lewsley explained the recording process of Losing Sleep in 2010:
<blockquote>
We did each song in a day ... and a day consists of about four hours. So there's a real expediency about how it's recorded. The whole attitude of the album is just doing that. Not indulging anyone. Not having any band sitting round for days and days. "Have you got a guitar part yet? No? Just do it. You've got a coupla hours." They [Collins's collaborators] all looked quite petrified but they did it. (Stuart Maconie is a former music journalist and his first NME article was a review of Collins's 1987 gig at the Manchester International.)
On 30 July 2011, Collins performed at the Indietracks festival that was held at the Midland Railway, Butterley. During the 2012 Kendal Calling event Collins sang "A Girl Like You", with Roddy Frame on guitar and Tim Burgess on backing vocals.
Collins's eighth solo album, Understated, was released in March 2013 on his own AED Records label and was critically well received, with God Is in the TV stating:
<blockquote>
Understated is more than just another step to recovery, it is indeed a fine record in its own right, and utterly life-affirming. It's also perhaps the ultimate testament to the healing power of music. He lost the ability to read, write, and lost movement in half of his body, but what he didn't lose was his gift for coming up with an ear-catching tune, as is proved here. It will make you smile, it may even make you cry, and it's an album that reminds you how good it is to be alive.</blockquote>
A documentary film about Collins entitled The Possibilities Are Endless, directed by James Hall and Edward Lovelace, was released in November 2014.
Collaborations with Roddy Frame
Collins has been friends with Roddy Frame, the frontman for the new wave group Aztec Camera, since they were both signed to Postcard Records in the 1980s.
Frame performed with Collins in November 2007 during Collins's first concert after his recovery from a serious illness, and the pair played again at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2008, on the Park Stage, and at the Purcell Rooms in London, UK, in September 2008.
Frame's fourth solo album, Seven Dials, was released in 2014 on Collins's AED record label. Frame explained, following the album's release, that he had been inspired to make an album with a full band after his positive experience playing with Collins in 2007 and 2008.
Production work
Collins has also worked extensively as a record producer with other artists, including Terrorvision, Robert Forster, The Cribs, Little Barrie, Hooton Tennis Club and Vic Godard.
Collins also produced The Official Body, the third album by the British post-punk band Shopping, which was released on 19 January 2018.
Collins co-produced a collaborative project between Camera Obscura frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell and guitarist Danny Coughlan that was released in May 2018 by Merge Records with the title Tracyanne & Danny.
Other projects
In addition to his music career Collins also produced and starred in the Channel 4 television show West Heath Yard. Collins released his first book of illustrations, Some British Birds, with Morel Books in 2009. Liberty of London printed his bird illustrations on fabric as part of a series of fabrics created in collaboration with musicians; his print is named Ornithology.
Awards and honours
In May 2009 Collins won the Ivors Inspiration Award in recognition of his struggles following his 2005 brain haemorrhage.
On 21 August 2010, Collins attended the Helmsdale Highland Games as the chieftain, an honour also previously bestowed on his grandfather.
On 24 August 2022, Collins appeared on stage with Coldplay at Hampden Park, Glasgow, to perform "A Girl Like You."
Personal life
Collins is married to Grace Maxwell, who is also his manager. The couple live in Helmsdale.
Discography
- Hope and Despair (1989)
- Hellbent on Compromise (1990)