Peter Collins, popularly known as a record producer who worked with some of the biggest musical acts in rock history, including Bon Jovi, Air Supply, Rush, Alex Cooper, and more, has passed away at the age of 73.
The news of the musician's death circulated when Rush took to their official Instagram account to pay tribute to their late collaborator, writing in the caption: "Peter Collins was our beloved producer for four albums. We loved seeing him in Nashville when we came through on tour. He had a mischievous, beaming smile and great sense of humor. He will be so missed. RIP, Mr. Big."
NME reported that the producer died at his Nashville, TN home. He was previously diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Born Peter Julian Alexander Collins on Jan. 14, 1951, in Reading, England, the record producer worked several jobs in the music industry, including as an arranger and an audio engineer.
Initially, he worked with a band called Madison, which signed under the label Magnet Records. The group consists of Sippy, Peter Spooner, and Cherri Gilham. Unfortunately, their record didn't become a massive success, which led to their disbandment.
He later founded a production company with Pete Waterman, where he produced albums for The Lambrettas.
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In a 2004 interview with the Journal On The Art Of Record Production, he revealed that he was a singer-songwriter in the 1960s. When it was about time to create an album, he realized that he wasn't interested in being an artist, but rather, he wanted to be in the studio and be involved with the "actual process of making a record."
Collins moved to Canada to work with Rush. He produced four of the group's albums, which included Power Windows in 1985, Hold Your Fire in 1987, Counterparts in 1993, and Test For Echo in 1996.
Before working with the band, he was known to be a pop producer, so he declined to work for the albums Presto and Roll the Bones. However, he later took the role and produced their rock albums.
He worked with famous bands and musicians like Bon Jovi, Lisa Loeb, Indigo Girls, Nanci Griffith, Alice Cooper, and many more.
His last work to date was Stray Cats' 40 in 2019.
Following his death, many of his former collaborators took to social media to pay tribute to him. Mike Portnoy wrote on his Instagram account: "Sad to hear of the passing of legendary Producer Peter Collins... He was an absolute pleasure to work with and gave us so many great memories and hilarious expressions & quotes that we still reference to this day."
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