| Man Raze UK | Phil Collen - Lead Vocals/Guitars |
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[Born] - Hackney, East London, England on December 8th 1957.
[Former Band 1] - Lucy.
Started in music by playing air guitar to the Beatles on a shed roof with friend Terry in Hackney. After leaving school at 16 worked as a burglar alarm technician for a year. Then as a delivery man (on motorbike) whilst playing in his early bands. The first being Lucy, a punk band who released two 7" singles (see Phil's discography for more).
[Former Band 2] - Tush (1977-1978).
His next band was Tush who also played ZZ Top covers and were named after one of their songs. They were managed by ex boxer Vic Andretti who later handled Dumb Blondes. They also played songs by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band & Thin Lizzy.
The first line-up was: Tony Miles: guitar, George Junor: guitar/vocals, Mickey Tickton: bass/vocals, Bob White: drums. They recruited a fan from the band Lucy: Phil Collen after George left. The band reformed with a new line-up of: Phil: guitars, Fred Ball: drums, Mickey Tickton: bass, Jeff Hepting: vocals.
[Former Band 3] - Dumb Blondes (1978).
After Phil played in Dumb Blondes with: Fred Ball: drums, Jeff Hepting: vocals (both from Tush) & Pete Webb: bass. They did covers and some original material. The band played gigs around London and got pictured in The Sun newspaper on Sep 6th 1978 with British boxer Colin Powers.
[Former Band 4] - Girl (1978-1982).
In late 1978 Phil answered an ad in Melody Maker magazine for a guitarist and joined Girl. They released 2 albums and 6 singles while Phil was in the band. They toured the UK, Europe & the Far East. Making some appearances on prominent UK TV shows: Top Of The Pops (April 1980), The Old Grey Whistle Test & kids TV show Tiswas. They would have toured the US in 1981 with Ozzy Osbourne but Leppard got the job instead. He left in June 1982 after a bad gig in London and joined Lep soon after. The carried on with another guitar player, also called Phil, touring only (in the Far East) and split in early 1983. They had released an EP after Phil left in mid 1982 called "2+2".
During his time in Lep he has made numerous guest appearances on records and has also produced BB Steal, Sheer Greed as well as contributing his original songs to The Law & Ziroq.
[Other Current Band] - Def Leppard (1982-Present).
[Related Link] - Phil's Def Leppard UK Section
[Former Band Info] - Tush Info by Tony Miles