ray collins

Ray Collins ( * 1936/11/19) started his musical career hangin out with Little Julian Herrera and the Tigers. When they recorded 'I Remember Linda' in 195?, Ray sang high falsetto backing vocals. Shortly thereafter, however, Little Julian was arrested and the band broke up a little later.
In the early sixties, Ray Collins joined The Soul Giants, a band that included Jimmy Carl Black and Roy Estrada. Collins brought in Frank Zappa when their guitar player left. Collins knew Zappa from studio Z. The Soul Giants eventually became the Mothers / the Mothers Of Invention.

	little julian herrera and the tigers: i remember linda / true fine mama (195?, 7", usa, starla records) - feat. ray collins on high falsetto backing
	the penguins: memories of el monte / be mine (1962, 7", usa, original sound) the a-side was written by frank zappa and ray collins; produced by frank zappa
	ned & nelda: hey nelda / surf along (1963, 7", usa, vigah) a- and b-side written by frank zappa and ray collins
	the mothers of invention: freak out! (1) (1966, 2lp, usa, verve)
	the mothers of invention: absolutely free (2) (1967, lp,usa, verve)
	the mothers of invention: cruising with ruben & the jets (5) (1968, lp, usa, verve)
	the mothers of invention: mothermania (6) (1969, lp, usa, verve)
	the mothers of invention: uncle meat (7) (1969, 2lp, usa, bizarre)
	the mothers of invention: burnt weeny sandwich (9) (1970, lp, usa, bizarre)
	the mothers of invention: weasels ripped my flesh (10) (1970, lp, usa, bizarre)
	frank zappa: apostrophe (') (18) (1974, lp, usa, discreet)
	geronimo black: welcome back (2) (1980, lp, usa, helios recs) - feat. various ex-mothers of invention
	ray collins: ray and the raisons (1981, unreleased, usa, rhino) - the album was announced by rhino in 1981
	ray collins: demos (1981) - demos for panda records // is this the same album as above??
	ray collins: of blues, myself & i (1982) - krc ????
	the grandmothers: lookin' up granny's dress (2) (1982, lp, us, rhino records rnlp 804) - feat. various ex-moi; incl.zappa compositions
	ray collins: magnolia (1984) - montclair ?????
	frank zappa: 'tis the season to be jelly (1991)
	frank zappa: you can't do that on stage anymore vol.5 (58) (1992, 2cd, usa, ryko)
	ray collins: love songs (1993, k7, usa, private release)
	the grandmothers: a mother of an anthology (1993, cd, us, one way records ow 28880) = compilation + extra tracks
	fraternity of man: x (3) (199?, cd5", usa, san francisco sounds sfs 09930 da) - incl. 'everybody's rockin'' (ray collins)
	frank zappa: the lost episodes (64) (1996, cd, usa, ryko)
	frank zappa: mystery disc (67) (1998, cd, usa, ryko)
	frank zappa: joe's corsage (72) (2004, cd, usa, vaulternative records)
	frank zappa: the mofo project/object (77) (2006, 2cd, usa, zappa records)
	frank zappa: the mofo project/object (78) (2006, 4cd, usa, zappa records)

From: unknown
Released a cassette of demos in 1993, called 'Love Songs'. Also an album of demos in 1981(?) on Polar Records (he says from memory).

From: Randy Cech
Does there exist a review of Ray's solo effort from the late 1980's early 1990's (I remember seeing a write up in Society Pages) Was this album any good????

From: Biffyshrew
_Lovesongs_? It's very crude musically: little two-chord songs that sound like cheesy demos made with a Casio. But Ray's voice sure is sweet.

From: Charles Ulrich
Today I was walking the two blocks between my office and my house, whistling "Wowie Zowie". Who should I meet but Ray Collins! I introduced myself, and he was very friendly. He is not performing because he has no band.
He mentioned the Grandmothers, but said he's not interested in singing Zappa's music, as that was "water under the bridge".

From: unknown
When I lived in L.A. I had a musician friend who knew Ray. Once the three of us ate lunch at the Wendy's near Sunset and LaBrea. Ray was very friendly, and the conversation mostly was about what he'd been up to lately to make ends meet. Apparently Ray had not been making much music and had been driving a cab amongst other jobs.

From: Splat
Here is a good chunk of DG Porter's interview with Ray I've been sloooowly transcribing:

From: Splat
As of winter '98 he still lived in Claremont, and was supposedly a fixture in the campus area.

From: computeruser
I just received from CDnow theFraternity of Man CD titled "X" And to my surprise it contains a song called "Everybody's Rockin'" which apparantly was penned by none other than Ray Collins.

From: SJ
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002
Just a note to let you know that Ray Collins is doing well. Ray is my Uncle (My dad's brother). I saw him 3 years ago at my sisters funeral & he was doing good.
Last I heard he was living near Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, CA. He was working on some songs (as he always is) & working odd jobs. I haven't seen him in a couple of years but occasionally I hear about him from my father. He still loves to talk to people about his adventures with the bands & will burst into song if given the chance.
It's nice to know that people fondly remember his unique work, that makes him very happy, & me very proud.

I met Ray Collins washing dishes in a restaurant in Lahaina Hawaii in the summer of 1976. My friend said "There's a guy washing dishes at Renees who says he was the Mother's original singer." So I went down there to get a job so I could meet this guy, and when I was washing I pretended I didn't know who he was and I started singing "Be a jerk go to work" and other Zappa lyrics just to goof on the guy until he figured out I knew he was Ray Collins. Then he was like, "Yeah, I'm Ray Collins, I hired Frank Zappa in our band when the guitar player quit, we brought Frank in but he wrote all these new songs and became the leader because we all thought he was a genius, I sang on the first 4 albums from Freak Out to Weasels ripped my flesh. Zappa never partied or took any drugs, he was always in the studio making music. He changed the name of the band to the Mothers but we had to add "Of Invention" for the first album because the record company thought Mothers was too risque."

He told me lots of stuff like this, it's not exact quotes, best i can remember. He was in Hawaii because his daughter was going to Maui Community College. She was 19 same as me. So Collins was like 45 then maybe. He was a very nice guy, totally friendly, and totally broke. Zappa never gave him a penny for anything. He was sleeping on the beach and I slept there too because he found the best spot on the beach where there were no cops or anything. That's where people slept in Lahaina if they had no home...on the beach. He used his dish washing money to support his daughter.

He was very nice and I washed dishes with him for 1 week and left, and I grew up to be an optometrist.