Lewis Collins

• Active: '60s
• Genres: Rock
• Instrument: Bass

Biography

Lewis Collins is best known as an actor in movies and on British television, but before he turned to drama he was a musician, and passed through the ranks of several '60s bands. Collins' family came from Birkenhead, near Liverpool, and his father Bill Collins had known Paul McCartney and worked on the periphery of the Beatles' orbit in their early days, occasionally serving as their road manager. Lewis Collins was drawn to music as a profession but had to make due with a day job as an apprentice hairdresser. He did take up the guitar seriously, and later the bass, and got to play with such notable local outfits as the Eyes, as well as less-well-remembered groups like the Renegades and the Georgians. His seeming big break came in late 1964 when -- in the wake of prompting of the band by his father -- he was invited into the Mojos as their bassist, amid the departure of two key original members. Alas, his tenure with the group, which lasted for nearly two years, coincided with their gradual slide from success into obscurity. He subsequently took up acting and his aspirations shifted from music to theater and then television and movies. He is most famous for his work on the action/adventure series The Professionals, and for having passed the test for entrance into England's elite SAS military unit (only to be rejected because he was too well known to the public). ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide