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 achieved considerable success with his 1994 song "A Girl Like You".
Orange Juice
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.
Solo career
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.
Collins released his sixth solo album in September 2007 on Heavenly Records entitled Home Again. In November 2009 Collins walked on stage at London's Bloomsbury Ballroom. Leaning on a silver-topped cane, he spoke slowly to the crowd, his right arm curled up at his side. "But when he started to sing, his baritone proved as powerful as ever."
A BBC Scotland documentary, Edwyn Collins:Home Again, was broadcast on 19 May 2008 and narrated by Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos. Filmed during 2007, it followed Collins's progress in recovering from his illness, and his first return to live performance at the BBC Electric Proms. He also performed at the Glastonbury Festival, broadcast on 28 June 2008 on BBC Two and at T in the Park on 10 July 2009. On 20 February 2010 he joined The Maccabees onstage at Brixton Academy for their encore, performing vocals on a rendition of "Rip It Up".
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