Catfish Collins

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Phelps "Catfish" Collins (October 17, 1943 – August 6, 2010)

Bootsy's Rubber Band
.

Early life

Phelps Collins was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the elder brother of William "Bootsy" Collins, whom he encouraged musically from a young age.[3] It was Bootsy who nicknamed Phelps "Catfish" because Bootsy thought he looked like a fish.[1]

Career

In 1968, the Collins brothers, along with Kash Waddy and Philippé Wynne, formed a group called The Pacemakers. Later the Pacemakers were hired by James Brown to accompany his vocals, at this they became known as The J.B.'s. Some of Brown's previous band members had walked out because of money disputes.

During their tenure in the J.B.'s, they recorded such classics as "

Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine", "Soul Power" and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose
". By 1971, Collins and the rest of the J.B.'s had quit James Brown.

The Collins brothers and Kash Waddy formed

Bootsy's Rubber Band, which included Waddy, Joel "Razor Sharp" Johnson (keyboards), Gary "Muddbone" Cooper (vocals) and Robert "P-Nut" Johnson (vocals), along with The Horny Horns
.

Collins played on albums by Freekbass and H-Bomb. In 1990, he performed on Deee-Lite's biggest hit "Groove Is in the Heart".[1] In 2007, he contributed guitar work to the Superbad movie soundtrack.

Personal life

He died on August 6, 2010, in Cincinnati after a long battle with cancer. He was survived by two children.[4]

Catfish Nation Celebration, a memorial concert, was held outside Cincinnati in Covington, Kentucky, at the Madison Theater and was attended by a number of musicians[5] as well as hundreds of concertgoers.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Cartwright, Garth (September 14, 2010). "'Catfish' Collins obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  2. ^ Kurtzman, Lori (August 6, 2010). "Bootsy's Brother Succumbs to Cancer". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Concert Honors 'Catfish' Collins". WLWT. September 5, 2010. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved November 28, 2017 – via YouTube.com.
  4. ^ Doyle, Patrick (August 9, 2010). "Parliament Guitarist Phelps "Catfish" Collins Dies at 66". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  5. ^ "Concert Honors 'Catfish' Collins". WLWT.com. September 4, 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2012.[permanent dead link]