Paul Collins (musician)

Paul Collins
Performing in Pontevedra, Spain in 2008
Background information
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, rock, power pop, punk rock, alternative country, folk rock, Post-punk, Garage punk, indie rock, indie pop
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, drums
Years active	1974–present
Labels	Columbia, MVS (France), Caroline Records, Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Get Hip Records, Bomp! Records, Alive Records
Associated acts	The Nerves, The Beat, The Breakaways, Peter Case
Website	myspace.com/paulcollins

Paul Vincent Collins (born 1956, New York City) is an American writer, author, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his work in the power pop groups The Nerves, The Breakaways and The Beat.

Paul Collins has released several solo projects with his alternative country group The Paul Collins Band, who play Americana music inspired by country rock and folk rock. Collins also continues to tour with his The Beat, an ever changing lineup rock group which combines power pop with Alternative rock and punk rock.

Paul Collins began his career as the drummer (and sometime singer & songwriter) in an influential Los Angeles power pop trio The Nerves, alongside Jack Lee and future Plimsouls frontman Peter Case. The band are best remembered for "Hanging on the Telephone", a song later made famous by Blondie. Hanging on the Telephone was written by Jack Lee.

After Jack Lee left the Nerves, Paul Collins and Peter Case continued practicing and recording with a variety of guitarists as the Breakaways; their best known song is "Walking out on Love", a song frequently performed by the Nerves in concert but never recorded by them. Tapes of their sessions surfaced in the late 2000s and were released on a compilation album in 2009.

Next, Paul Collins formed his own group as singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter for The Beat, sometimes called The Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British ska group also called The Beat (or The English Beat in the US).