Phil Collen Totally Explained

Everything about Phil Collen totally explained

Philip Kenneth Collen (born December 8, 1957 in Hackney, East London, England) is a lead guitarist for English rock band Def Leppard. He joined the band in 1982 following the firing of Pete Willis. Not to be confused with Phil Collins from the band Genesis.

Biography

Collen was born in Hackney, East London, England. Because of this region, he speaks with a Cockney accent. At the age of 16, Phil got his first guitar (a red Gibson SG), taught himself how to play, and left school to pursue a career in music. He then joined a line-up of early bands including Lucy, Tush, Dumb Blondes, and Girl.

Def Leppard

Collen had already known Joe Elliott and Steve Clark since 1981 from the London music scene and had been asked to consider joining then. However, there was no need to replace Pete Willis at the time.
But when Willis was dismissed from Def Leppard, Collen wasn't formally asked to join the band. Elliott evaluated Collen's ability to play the guitar after he handed out a demo recording of "Photograph" during the band's Pyromania sessions, in hopes of performing a solo that fit in with the bands' style of music. Soon after, Collen officially joined, and his ability on the guitar impressed producer Mutt Lange and the rest of the band. He quickly bonded with fellow guitarist Steve Clark, with whom he created Def Leppard's trademark dual guitar sound. He and Steve were even known as "The Terror Twins". Over the years, Collen quit drinking, stopped eating meat, and adopted a healthy lifestyle (He became a vegetarian); Clark however didn't follow such a healthy way of life and, like so many rock heroes, ended up losing his life to alcohol and prescription drugs in early 1991.
After Clark's death in 1991, Collen faced the challenge of not only dealing with the loss of a friend he'd bonded with for so many years, but also with the burden and responsibility of reproducing Clark's style while creating and recording all the guitar parts for their next album, Adrenalize. Vivian Campbell eventually joined the band as second guitarist, to replace Steve Clark.

Equipment

In 1989, Collen teamed up with Grover Jackson of Jackson Guitars to develop an ergonomically correct electric guitar called the PC Archtop. He has since designed three more Jackson electric guitar models (PC 1, 2 & 3). The PC1 is currently produced and sold through Jackson. Phil was also endorsing Ibanez Destroyer guitars since the early 1980s, which he still uses.
   Phil uses steel guitar picks made by Dunlop. He plays GHS 12-52 strings tuned to E'flat.
   In November 1992 he was quoted in Guitar School as using the following equipment.
   Guitars: Jackson/Charvel custom Pickups: DiMarzio Super 3 (bridge), Fast Track (neck ) Amplification: Randall RRM2-200 Cabinets: Randall custom 4 X 12s/Celestion Vintage 30s Effects: Digitech GSP 21s, Rockman XPR, TC Electronic 1128 EQ, Scholz stereo choruses, BBE 442 Sonic Maximizers, Rane MPE 28, Palmer Speaker Simulator

Side Projects

In 1990, Phil co-produced the "On the Edge" album of the Australian band BB Steal This same year, Collen performed by invitation on Donny Osmond's "Eyes Don't Lie" album and single (subsequently released with Osmond's "Best Of..." album in 1994.) Def Leppard management determined that it wasn't in the best interest of the band for Collen's name to be associated with "a Donny Osmond release,' and Collen's contribution was credited under the name Rory James Collen - Phil Collen's son's name. (In a later statement, Osmond commented that he understood the band managements' decision, and held no ill will toward them or Collen.)
   In 1991, Collen offered a song he'd written, "Miss You In A Heartbeat" to the band The Law, which was featured on the band's self-titled album. This album was the band's only release. "Miss You In A Heartbeat" was later recorded and released by Def Leppard.
   In 1993, Collen executive produced the album "Sublime To The Ridiculous" for the band, Sheer Greed. Collen also made a guest appearance with the band on the song "Everybody Wants". This album was released only in Japan.
   Collen has worked in numerous side projects, some of them together with Joe Elliott. One of his recent side projects was a tribute to David Bowie and Mick Ronson. He and Elliott also got together with the Trevor Bolder and Mick "Woody" Woodmansey from Spiders from Mars and keyboardist Dick Decent to form Cybernauts. In 2001 they released a great live album of classic Bowie hits. In addition, Collen has also appeared on a number of other music projects.
   In 1996, Collen performed as a featured guitarist on the "" album - a tribute album to guitarist Jeff Beck. Collen performed on the single, "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers" from the album.
   Recently, Phil organized a band of his own called Man-Raze, comprised of former Girl bandmate, Simon Laffy, and the drummer from the Sex Pistols, Paul Cook. They are scheduled to release "Surreal", their first full length CD, in January 2008.

Personal life

Collen currently resides in Southern California with his wife, Anita Thomas. Collen has a son, Rory James Collen (who also became a vegetarian), and a daughter, Samantha Collen.

Trivia

In October 1980, Adrian Smith joined Iron Maiden. However, had Adrian refused, Phil would've been their next choice.
He practices kickboxing.
He has been dubbed by some as "The Shirtless One", because he typically performs shirtless.
He is known to meditate before each gig, despite not being religious.
He is a vegan and has done work for PETA.

Further Information

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