Leonard Raymond Sipes (September 28, 1930 – March 14,
2000), better known as Tommy Collins, was an American country music singer and
songwriter.
Collins was born just outside of Oklahoma City, spending
his entire childhood in Oklahoma, where his father worked for the county. As a
child, he began to sing and write songs, eventually appearing on local radio
shows. Following his high-school graduation in 1948, he attended Edmond State
Teachers College while he continued to perform music. During this time, he made
a handful of singles for the California-based record label Morgan. In the early
'50s, he was in the Army for a brief time, before he moved to Bakersfield with
his friend Wanda Jackson and her family. Shortly afterward, the Jackson family
moved back to Oklahoma, leaving Collins alone in Bakersfield.
In a short time, Collins had begun to make friends and
contacts within the city, eventually becoming friends with Ferlin Husky, and
the pair roomed together. After recording a handful of Collins' songs, Husky
convinced his record company, Capitol, to offer Collins a record contract, and
the fledging singer/songwriter signed to the label in June of 1953; at the time
of signing, he adopted his stage name of Tommy Collins, since it sounded more
commercial than Leonard Sipes. Capitol and Collins immediately assembled a
backing band, which featured a then-unknown Buck Owens on lead guitar.
Following one unsuccessful single, Collins released the jaunty "You Better
Not Do That," which became a huge hit in early 1954, spending seven weeks
at number two on the country charts.
Collins was on the fast road to major success, but it
stopped just as soon as it began. Collins had a religious conversion in early
1956, and much of the material he recorded that year was sacred music;
occasionally, he recorded duets with his wife Wanda Lucille Shahan as well. In
1957, Collins enrolled in the Golden Gate Baptist Seminary with the intention
of becoming a minister. Two years later, he became a pastor. During all of his
religious teachings, Collins continued to record for Capitol, but neither he
nor the label was much interested in promoting his records, and he had no hits.
When his contract with the label expired in 1960, he stopped recording and
enrolled as a student at Sacramento State College. For the next two years, he
studied at the university.
In early 1963, Collins decided he was unfulfilled by the
ministry, so he left the church and headed back to Bakersfield with the
intention of re-entering the music business. Capitol agreed to re-sign him, and
in 1964 he returned to the lower reaches of the charts with "I Can Do
That," a duet with his wife, Wanda.
With the help of Johnny Cash, Collins switched labels and
signed with Columbia in 1965; the following year, he had a Top Ten hit with
"I Can't Bite, Don't Growl." For the next few years, he had a string
of minor hit singles, none of which cracked the country Top 40. During this
time, he also toured with his protégés, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, acting as
their opening act. By the early '70s, both Collins' professional and personal
lives were on the verge of collapse, due to his increasing dependency on drugs
and alcohol. In 1971, Wanda filed for divorce, sending Collins into a deep
depression.
Collins began to recover by continuing to write songs,
many of which were recorded by Merle Haggard, including the 1972 number one hit
single "Carolyn." In 1976, Collins moved to Nashville, where he was
able to secure a contract with Starday Records. Later that year, he released
Tommy Collins Callin', a collection of his own versions of songs he had
provided for other artists. Following the album's release, Collins turned
almost entirely to professional song writing.
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For “Tommy Collins – The Capitol Collectors Series” go here:
http://www11.zippyshare.com/v/Fs4RWmbm/file.html
1. You Better Not Do That
2. High On a Hilltop
3. What'cha Gonna Do Now?
4. I Guess I'm Crazy
5. It Tickles
6. Never Let You Go I'll Never
7. You Gotta Have a License
8. How Do I Say Goodbye
9. Untied
10. You Oughta See Pickles Now
11. Little June
12. Black Cat
13. All of the Monkeys Ain't In the Zoo
14. My Last Chance With You
15. I Always Get a Souvenir
16. Let Me Love You
17. I'll Be Gone
18. Summer's Almost Gone
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