Phil Collen
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Phil Collen and Steve Clark, dubbed as "The Terror Twins". |
Philip Kenneth Collen (born
December 8,
1957 in
Hackney,
East London, England) is one of the guitarists for
British rock band
Def Leppard. He joined the band in
1982 following the firing of
Pete Willis.
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. He'd 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.
When Willis was dismissed, Collen wasn't formally asked to join the band, only to come over and to do a few solos. His ability on the guitar impressed producer
Mutt Lange and the band so much that he was instantly recruited. 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".
After Clark's death in
1991, Collen faced the challenge of not only dealing with the loss of a friend, 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. At this time he considered quitting the band, but remained steadfast.
In
1986, 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.
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.
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. He also made a guest appearance with the band
Sheer Greed on the song "Eveybody Wants" on their album
Sublime To The Ridiculous.
Recently, Collen joined
PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals."It started freaking me out eating dead body parts. The whole (cannibal serial killer)
Jeffrey Dahmer fridge concept of things was weird. It started when I was a kid, but you know, you have that whole parent propaganda when they say, 'Oh no, you got to eat this, and it's OK,' and even when you go, 'Well, that chicken is kind of like a dog,' and they go, 'Come on, eat, eat, eat your meat,' and I always felt kind of uncomfortable," Collen told PETA. He also filmed a
Public Service Announcement for the group.
Collen currently resides in
Southern California with his wife, Anita Thomas. He also has a son, Rory James Collen, from his past marriage to Jackie. He also has a daughter named Samantha with Michele.
* Collen is a
vegan, although he occasionally eats chocolate and takes milk with his coffee/tea.
* He practices
kickboxing.
* He has been dubbed by some as "The Shirtless One", because he typically performs
shirtless.
*
Def Leppard*
Terror Twins*
Phil Collen Speaks Out about Vegetarianism
