One of the unsung architects of funk,
Phelps "Catfish" Collins was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1944.
Collins began playing guitar when he was young, and he later taught his younger brother
William "Bootsy" Collins to play bass, refitting an old guitar into
Bootsy's first four-string. In 1968, the Collins Brothers formed an R&B combo called the Pacemakers, featuring lead singer
Philippé Wynne, who would later join
the Spinners. The Pacemakers developed a strong local following and did some work as a session band for Cincinnati-based King Records. Through King, the Pacemakers came to the attention of
James Brown, and when
Brown fired his band in 1969 (supposedly over a salary dispute), the Pacemakers were hired to become the new edition of
The J.B.'s. The band's tight, energetic style meshed well with
Brown's lean funk stylings, and
Catfish contributed excellent rhythm guitar work to classic sides such as "Sex Machine," "Super Bad," "Give It Up And Turn It Loose" and "Soul Power." In 1971,
Catfish and
Bootsy parted ways with
Brown, and they formed a funk band called The Houseguests with Pacemakers singer
Wynne and drummer
Frankie "Kash" Waddy. History soon repeated itself when
George Clinton invited
Catfish and
Bootsy to leave their band and join
Funkadelic, and
Catfish made his debut with the group on their 1972 album America Eats Its Young. Through the 1970s, the Collins brothers were an integral part of the
Parliament/
Funkadelic axis, and
Catfish played guitar with
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Parlet,
The Brides of Funkenstein and
Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns as well as
Clinton's flagship groups.
Clinton's
P-Funk empire faltered in the 1980s and
Catfish left
Parliament/
Funkadelic in 1983; his recording career fell by the wayside for much of the decade, but he continued to collaborate with
Bootsy and in the 1990s cut sessions with
Deee-Lite, H-Bomb and
Freekbass. In 2007,
Catfish and
Bootsy joined a handful of
J.B.'s and
Funkadelic alumni to record material for the soundtrack to the hit comedy Superbad.
Catfish Collins died on August 6, 2010 after a bout with cancer;
Bootsy released a statement saying "My world will never be the same without him," and added, "Be happy for him, he certainly is now and always has been the happiest young fellow I ever met on this planet." ~ Mark Deming