Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
Allen Collins, guitarist of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rossington Collins Band and the Allen Collins Band. 19 July 1952 - 23 January 1990.
This video is a brief look at Allen's history, concentrating on the year 1983 when the Allen Collins Band released the album Here, There and Back.
I'm a huge fan of all of Allen's work and I've been meaning to make this video for a long time, I was inspired to complete it as a video of an Allen Collins Band performance was finally made public recently. Please do check it out here: youtu.be/Zn0j14FAzfE?si=B_k5y1-PDsTvO08U&t=193
Thanks for watching
Dunsy
Early life
Larkin Allen Collins Jr. was born in Jacksonville, Florida on July 19, 1952. He started playing guitar at 12 years of age, with a few lessons from his stepmother, Leila Collins, a country-and-western guitarist, and received his first guitar and amplifier from his father. Inspired by the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, he formed his first group, The Mods, with friends Larry Steele (bass), Donnie Ulsh (guitar), and James Rice (drums). Collins attended Nathan B. Forrest High School.
In the summer of 1964, Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Bob Burns and Larry Junstrom formed a band - then 2 weeks later Allen Collins joined - that band would eventually become Lynyrd Skynyrd, via the names My Backyard, Conquer the Worm for a day or two, then The Noble Five, and finally The One Percent by 1968
In 1970, Collins married Kathy Johns.
Between 1973 and 1977 Skynyrd would release 5 studio albums and 1 live album.
Plane crash (1977)
On October 19, 1977, two days after releasing their album Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina.
The following day they boarded a Convair CV-240 airplane, with the registration N55VM to take them to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they were to perform at Louisiana State University. The plane ran out of fuel near the end of the flight before crashing in a heavily forested area five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Killed in the crash were Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot John Gray. Other band members (Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins), tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew members suffered serious injuries
ROSSINGTON COLLINS BAND:
Founded in 1979 by guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins with Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell from Lynyrd Skynyrd along with Dale Krantz (a backup singer for 38 Special) Barry Lee Harwood
and Derek Hess.
The Rossington-Collins Band released two albums (Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, and This Is the Way), and charting a few singles (notably "Don't Misunderstand Me").
The Rossington-Collins Band disbanded in 1982.
Allen Collins Band
Allen Collins formed the Allen Collins Band in 1983. Joining him would be his fellow Rossington-Collins bandmates Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Barry Lee Harwood, and Derek Hess, minus Gary Rossington and Dale Krantz. Replacing Rossington would be Collins' friend Randall Hall, and Jimmy Dougherty would assume lead vocal duties.
Here, There and Back Album
Here, There, & Back, was released in 1983 on MCA records, produced by the band.
It was also available on cassette tape.
Now, this was never released in the UK - in fact I think, other that the US and Canada, there was very few places that the album was ever available. I think it was out of print not long after.
It was released the first time on MCA records on CD - this wasn't a remastered version - the liner notes have that old "transferred from analog tape" warning. Again, I don't believe that this was ever available in the UK.
We finally saw a remastered version on CD in 2015, which was put out on Crossroad Productions. This you could get in the UK!
Sadly, the band would be short-lived and broke up after only one album. But they did tour some US tour dates to promote the album - not a whole lot, as I guess that Allen was not in the best of health at that point - but here are the ones that I could find.
MAY 30 1983 Music Fest
Mid-South Fairgrounds, Memphis, TN, USA
Allen Collins Band
Keith Sykes
LeRoux
Molly Hatchet
Ronnie Hammond
JUN 15 1983
Summers on the Beach, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
JUL 8th 1983
The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
OCT 31st 1983
The Boathouse, Norfolk, VA, USA
NOV 2nd 1983
Lone Star Cafe, New York, NY, USA
Just Trouble, Workin' for MCA, Chapter One, Ready to Move, Sweet Home Alabama, One Known Soldier, Hangin’ Judge, Commitments, Time After Time, That Smell, Free Bird
#southernrock
#allencollins
#lynyrdskynyrd
Allen Collins, guitarist of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rossington Collins Band and the Allen Collins Band. 19 July 1952 - 23 January 1990.
This video is a brief look at Allen's history, concentrating on the year 1983 when the Allen Collins Band released the album Here, There and Back.
I'm a huge fan of all of Allen's work and I've been meaning to make this video for a long time, I was inspired to complete it as a video of an Allen Collins Band performance was finally made public recently. Please do check it out here: youtu.be/Zn0j14FAzfE?si=B_k5y1-PDsTvO08U&t=193
Thanks for watching
Dunsy
Early life
Larkin Allen Collins Jr. was born in Jacksonville, Florida on July 19, 1952. He started playing guitar at 12 years of age, with a few lessons from his stepmother, Leila Collins, a country-and-western guitarist, and received his first guitar and amplifier from his father. Inspired by the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, he formed his first group, The Mods, with friends Larry Steele (bass), Donnie Ulsh (guitar), and James Rice (drums). Collins attended Nathan B. Forrest High School.
In the summer of 1964, Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Bob Burns and Larry Junstrom formed a band - then 2 weeks later Allen Collins joined - that band would eventually become Lynyrd Skynyrd, via the names My Backyard, Conquer the Worm for a day or two, then The Noble Five, and finally The One Percent by 1968
In 1970, Collins married Kathy Johns.
Between 1973 and 1977 Skynyrd would release 5 studio albums and 1 live album.
Plane crash (1977)
On October 19, 1977, two days after releasing their album Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina.
The following day they boarded a Convair CV-240 airplane, with the registration N55VM to take them to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they were to perform at Louisiana State University. The plane ran out of fuel near the end of the flight before crashing in a heavily forested area five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Killed in the crash were Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot John Gray. Other band members (Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins), tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew members suffered serious injuries
ROSSINGTON COLLINS BAND:
Founded in 1979 by guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins with Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell from Lynyrd Skynyrd along with Dale Krantz (a backup singer for 38 Special) Barry Lee Harwood
and Derek Hess.
The Rossington-Collins Band released two albums (Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, and This Is the Way), and charting a few singles (notably "Don't Misunderstand Me").
The Rossington-Collins Band disbanded in 1982.
Allen Collins Band
Allen Collins formed the Allen Collins Band in 1983. Joining him would be his fellow Rossington-Collins bandmates Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Barry Lee Harwood, and Derek Hess, minus Gary Rossington and Dale Krantz. Replacing Rossington would be Collins' friend Randall Hall, and Jimmy Dougherty would assume lead vocal duties.
Here, There and Back Album
Here, There, & Back, was released in 1983 on MCA records, produced by the band.
It was also available on cassette tape.
Now, this was never released in the UK - in fact I think, other that the US and Canada, there was very few places that the album was ever available. I think it was out of print not long after.
It was released the first time on MCA records on CD - this wasn't a remastered version - the liner notes have that old "transferred from analog tape" warning. Again, I don't believe that this was ever available in the UK.
We finally saw a remastered version on CD in 2015, which was put out on Crossroad Productions. This you could get in the UK!
Sadly, the band would be short-lived and broke up after only one album. But they did tour some US tour dates to promote the album - not a whole lot, as I guess that Allen was not in the best of health at that point - but here are the ones that I could find.
MAY 30 1983 Music Fest
Mid-South Fairgrounds, Memphis, TN, USA
Allen Collins Band
Keith Sykes
LeRoux
Molly Hatchet
Ronnie Hammond
JUN 15 1983
Summers on the Beach, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
JUL 8th 1983
The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
OCT 31st 1983
The Boathouse, Norfolk, VA, USA
NOV 2nd 1983
Lone Star Cafe, New York, NY, USA
Just Trouble, Workin' for MCA, Chapter One, Ready to Move, Sweet Home Alabama, One Known Soldier, Hangin’ Judge, Commitments, Time After Time, That Smell, Free Bird
#southernrock
#allencollins
#lynyrdskynyrd
