Edwyn Collins biography
Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice. He has since pursued a solo career as a musician, in addition to work as an illustrator, television actor and producer, and as a record producer. He is most noted for his 1994 song "A Girl Like You".
Career
Orange Juice had a Number-8 hit single with "Rip It Up", their only UK Top 40 single and biggest commercial success. In 1985, Orange Juice disbanded; after some difficulty finding a record label with which to sign, Collins began his solo career a year later after signing with the Elevation subsidiary of Creation Records.
Collins released a 1994 single, "A Girl Like You", which was a hit in both the UK and the U.S. and was featured in the films Empire Records, The Secretary and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. "The Magic Piper (of Love)", a 1997 single that featured on the soundtrack of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, was also released.
He built his own recording studio in 1994 and produced his own third solo album, Gorgeous George. He has also worked extensively as a record producer with other artists, including The Proclaimers, Vic Godard, A House, Space, Robert Forster, The Cribs, and Little Barrie. In 2005, Collins produced the album The New Fellas recorded by The Cribs.
In May 2009, he won the Ivors Inspiration Award in recognition of his struggles following a double brain haemorrhage in 2005.
In addition to his music career, Collins has also produced and starred in the Channel 4 sitcom, West Heath Yard. Collins released his first book of illustrations with Morel Books in 2009.
On 2 October 2009, Collins's wife, 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.
"Losing Sleep" was released on 13 September 2010 in the UK. It's Collins's first written and recorded album since his serious illness in 2005. It was recorded at his own West Heath Studios between November 2008 and May 2010 and produced by the former Orange Juice frontman and Sebastian Lewsley. He collaborated with The Cribs' Ryan Jarman and Johnny Marr, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy, The Magic Numbers singer Romeo Stodart, The Drums and Aztec Camera singer Roddy Frame.
Personal life
Collins was born in Edinburgh. He is married to Grace Maxwell, who is also his manager. The couple live in London and have one son, William, who maintains his father's MySpace page.
In a BBC 6 Music radio interview on 18 February 2005, Collins had said he felt unwell, but ascribed the nausea and vertigo to food poisoning. Two days later, he was admitted to intensive care in London's Royal Free Hospital after apparently suffering a major cerebral hemorrhage. 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. The aphasia he suffered allowed him to repeat only four phrases, over and over again: "yes", "no", "Grace Maxwell" and "the possibilities are endless".
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