He was the elder brother of William "Bootsy" Collins, whom he encouraged musically from a young age.
[1] In 1968, the Collins brothers, along with Kash Waddy and Philippé Wynne, formed a group called The Pacemakers.
During their tenure in the J.B.'s, they recorded such classics as "Super Bad", "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine", "Soul Power" and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose".
Four years later, Collins joined Bootsy's Rubber Band, which included Waddy, Joel "Razor Sharp" Johnson (keyboards), Gary "Muddbone" Cooper (vocals) and Robert "P-Nut" Johnson (vocals), along with The Horny Horns.
[4] Catfish Nation Celebration, a memorial concert, was held outside Cincinnati in Covington, Kentucky, at the Madison Theater and was attended by a number of musicians[5] as well as hundreds of concertgoers.