EDWYN COLLINS is seriously ill in hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage (...back in 2005; he's much better now).

Get well soon to one of my first, and longest-standing, musical heroes.

Singer Edwyn Collins 'very ill'
Edwyn Collins
A Girl Like You was a hit at the height of Britpop
Singer Edwyn Collins, known for fronting 1980s band Orange Juice and his 1990s solo success, is seriously ill after a brain haemorrhage.

He was taken ill on Sunday night, his wife Grace wrote on his website.

"He is being well looked after in hospital. When there is more to report, I'll let you all know," she wrote.

Edinburgh-born Collins, 45, led Orange Juice to a number three UK hit with Rip It Up in 1983. Solo single A Girl Like You reached number four in 1995.

Global hit

A spokesperson added that doctors were trying to stabilise his condition.

Collins was a leading figure on the alternative Scottish scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, forming his first band, Nu-Sonics, aged 17.

They became Orange Juice, who were independent favourites and briefly broke into the mainstream with Rip It Up.

The band Orange Juice

Edwyn Collins' solo pop path
He pursued a solo career with mixed results until A Girl Like You, at the height of Britpop, which was a top 10 hit in seven countries and reached the top 40 in the US.

In 1999, he created and starred in Channel 4 sitcom West Heath Yard, which featured cameo performances from Jarvis Cocker, Natalie Imbruglia and Alan McGee.

He surfaced again as a guest on Rolf Harris' album after being impressed by the Australian icon's rendition of A Girl Like You.

He had recently turned to producing new bands including Sons and Daughters, The Cribs and Little Barrie.

A compilation of his early songs, The Glasgow School, is due to be released in May.

Get well soon and fully Edwyn !!

"He was out for the count and when he awoke he was laughing uncontrollably as one might at a joke."

Fingers and toes crossed. : (

Is it true that he said from the stage at this show, "I know that's you, Bobby Gillespie -- shut the fuck up!"

(I'm not trying to make light of the serious situation, just want to get some good vibes going with the good wishes for recovery.)

Get better soon, Edywn!

By the way, how is Marc Almond doing after his really nasty accident?

Ian, Marc Almond has made an amazing recovery, by the sounds of things: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,,1396320,00.html

Recent Marc Almond interview (he's on the mend!!!!)

Sorry to shatter any illusions but there was no "riot" and actually Edwyn did leave the stage very dutifully, having only been allowed time to perform a couple of numbers because the tossers managing the (second) stage had allowed so many earlier acts to overrun.

Consequently quite a few of us refused to leave the tent and started shaking the central tent poles and loosening the guide ropes and generally threatening to pull the thing down; but when it became apparent that Edwyn had gone and there was no chance of geting hom back and that all we were actually doing was running up a nice big overtime payment for the incompetent twats who'd caused the situation in the first place, we all just gave up and went home.

"Is it true that he said from the stage at this show, "I know that's you, Bobby Gillespie -- shut the fuck up!""

I don't think so; it would certainly have been an extremely strange thing for him to have said, since the band that was playing on the main stage at the time was James.

The film clip for the magic piper of love may have lead you to believe that.

And I still want to grow up and be Edwyn Collins.

I heard about this this morning on the radio and they should really be ashamed of themselves. This is basically what I heard : "Edwyn Collins was hospitalized after suffering a brain hemorrhage. You may remember his '95 hit 'A Girl like You' even though he probably doesn't anymore." What an asinine thing to say.

Edwyn Collins Remains In Serious Condition

by Paul Cashmere

27 February 2005

Scottish singer Edwyn Collins is fighting for his life after suffering from a brain hemorrhage last weekend (February 20).

One week after Collins was taken to hospital his condition has not improved.

Collins is best known for the 1995 hit single 'A Girl Like You'. Before breaking out as a solo artist he was the lead singer of Scottish band Orange Juice. Orange Juice disbanded in 1984.

He was born in Edinburgh in 1959. He lives in London with his wife Grace who is updating fans at his website.

Collins latest work was as producer for the debut album by Little Barrie.

Edwyn had an emergency operation on Friday 25th Febuary.

He has come through it as well as can be hoped for and is continuing to fight.
Thank you for all the loving thoughts.

As I'm not familiar with the results of brain haemorrhage, I don't know what this means. I only hope he recovers. :-(

Singer Edwyn Collins has undergone emergency brain surgery after suffering a haemorrhage last month.

The 45-year-old Scottish musician's wife Grace Maxwell said the former Orange Juice frontman was recovering and is "as well as can be hoped for".

Collins, who also had success as a solo artist, is in a London hospital while his condition is being stabilised.

Ms Maxwell, also Collins' manager, added in a message posted on his website he was "continuing to fight".

'Loving thoughts'

She also thanked fans and well-wishers for their "loving thoughts", and said she would keep them informed of any developments in the singer's condition.

Collins' biggest hit with Orange Juice was Rip It Up in 1983, which reached number three, and in 1995 he scored a big solo hit with A Girl Like You.

On BBC 6 Music's radio show Roundtable on 18 February, Collins said he had recently been ill.

"I suddenly got a horrible sense of vertigo, the room started spinning around and I started puking up," he said.

But he put it down to food poisoning at the time, adding: "I'm two days into recuperation and I should be fine."

Global hit

Collins was a leading figure on the alternative Scottish scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, forming his first band, Nu-Sonics, aged 17.

They became Orange Juice, who were independent favourites and briefly broke into the mainstream with Rip It Up.

The band Orange Juice

Edwyn Collins' pop path

He pursued a solo career with mixed results until A Girl Like You, at the height of Britpop, which was a top 10 hit in seven countries and reached the top 40 in the US.

In 1999, he created and starred in Channel 4 sitcom West Heath Yard, which featured cameo performances from Jarvis Cocker, Natalie Imbruglia and Alan McGee.

He surfaced again as a guest on Rolf Harris' album after being impressed by the Australian icon's rendition of A Girl Like You.

He had recently turned to producing new bands including Sons and Daughters, The Cribs and Little Barrie.

A compilation of his early songs, The Glasgow School, is due to be released in May.

I didn't know that. Was this good, was it?

Incidentally, I saw you Momus on prime-time TV just last night, discussing parasites and eye damage at some length on a BBC doco. Nasty! (and not the way one would've hoped you'd broaden your antipodean audience!) : (

Best wishes.

Poor Edwyn, I really hope for the best for him.

"Dear All This is the most relaxed I've felt
about giving you news since this all began.
I think we can say that Edwyn is now virtually out of immediate danger.
We are organising his next move, to intensive neuro rehabilitation,
which should happen in the next few weeks at the latest.
This is a tough challenge, but you know he's beaten the odds already
and I fully expect him to go on in his customary stubborn manner.
He is aware of the wonderful support he has received and I'm printing
all the messages out so he can read them when he is able in the near future.
If you wish, you can send cards to him at:
West Heath Studios,
West Heath Yard,
174 Mill Lane,
London, NW6 1TB.

Meanwhile, his doctors are delighted and a bit confounded at his progress. He's Edwyn.
Love to you all Grace"

Via Klive Humberstone of In the Nursery just now on FB:

Just bumped into Edwyn Collins in Town. How bizarre and how lovely. He's in Sheffield to 'jam' with Richard Hawley (hope that's not supposed to be a secret!). Had a brilliant chat.

Not sure if many people round here still keep up with his solo stuff, his last album was terrific and his new one is out next week. It's streaming right now if anyone wants a listen.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/mar/18/edwyn-collins-understated-stream

I just love this man. I saw him in Leeds in 2010 and it was one of the best gigs I've ever seen. He did a few of the old Orange Juice classics and a great selection from his solo years including my personal favourite, Make Me Feel Again from Gorgeous George.

"A Girl Like You" was such a terrible song that it killed my interest in him stone dead and retroactively tainted Orange Juice forever.

oh for the love of

Seriously? You're missing out on so many great songs. The Orange Juice stuff still sounds great today, just forget A Girl Like You exists.

New album is fantastic, up there with his best solo work.

an album of nothing but farts would not diminish one second of the heather's on fire or ostrich churchyard

believe me guys i loved Orange Juice a long way back but all i think of when i hear is name now is that turgid 60s hackjob

anyway just an observation, hope he keeps on keeping on and avoids jamming with people

Britishers, the documentary is on film4 on tuesday night:

http://www.film4.com/reviews/2014/the-possibilities-are-endless

I lieu of a proper Edwyn Collins general discussion topic, I am upping this one to extol the brilliant all-over-the-place-ness of his 1997 weird pop mini-masterpiece I'm Not Following You.

He sandwiches so much into fifty-five minutes, it's great.

Yeah it is his best non-Orange Juice album imo. Quite close to Texas Fever in its execution. Brilliant production - experimental in the best way: guitars going off all over the place, flashes of feedback or weird noises coming in but its all about the great songs (great anti-britpop song in there too). Don't really like Mark E. Smith's song but otherwise it's really, really good.

ah thanks for the bump, will check.

Also, I love that it was basically his follow-up to 'A Girl Like You.' Such open defiance of even remotely caring about continuing with that momentum.

He casually declares his independence or openly dismisses the idea of being marketed alongside the other bands of the time in maybe half the songs here! Very amusingly worded too! haha.

Doing your own thing and not caring about money or success is the theme of the album.

maybe my favorite thing he ever did?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULZtVYBCL08

"means to an end" (1990)

from the album hellbent on compromise♥︎

i'm honestly slightly aghast at how much no one seems to care/know about this song. <800 listsners and <2000 scrobbles on last.fm, not on streaming, and <1000 views on youtube. i just happened on a used cd copy years ago by complete chance and that's the first track. the rest of the album is kind of a standard jangly 1990 alterna-thing. none of it retains that same eerie atmosphere as on "means to an end." the song was co-written with paul quinn (who goes way back w/ec). anyway, what a tune.

kind of has a leonard cohen thing going on

this is lovely
https://thequietus.com/interviews/bakers-dozen/all-for-the-songs-edwyn-collins-favourite-music/

Album seems fairly decent.

Bandsplain recently had an episode about how “A Girl Like You” is a perfect song and it had a lot of Collins & OJ background info. I got into Orange Juice randomly when all of their albums were reissued for Record Store Day several years ago; they were cheap and I grabbed all of them without ever hearing them. I fell in love but didn’t realize it was the”Girl Like You” guy until very recently.

The podcast prompted me to buy a copy of Gorgeous George and it’s really good. The production is probably a little dated but it reminds me so much of Pulp. The lyrics, his manner of singing, the music. I guess it needs some funky synths. Thankfully I wasn’t around radio or MTV so the big hit doesn’t bug me.

Not an OJ fan but I do dig Gorgeous George, really varied album with some great guitar sounds

“Low Expectations” might be my favorite off of it. Is “Gorgeous George” about Boy George? I want it to be about Boy George.

Album seems fairly decent.

― djh

About a very thorough and good Orange Juice CD/DVD round-up, Coals To Newcastle (2010)---
originally in the Village Voice, archived here because ancient Voice links can go astray:

https://myvil.blogspot.com/2016/06/you-young-eccentric.html

Gorgeous George has a song called “North of Heaven,” which is a sad, straight-forward country-tinged love song that for absolutely no reason has the following lyrics: “Some mother’s talking ‘bout Guns ‘n’ Roses, as if I give a fuck. At best I think they suck. I’m too preoccupied with my memories, not nonentities.”

Really love the ez disco-y “if you could love me”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PTde0LIbX4

> Gorgeous George

i know the name from a famous wrestler

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgeous_George

> George Raymond Wagner (March 24, 1915 – December 26, 1963) was an American professional wrestler known by his ring name Gorgeous George.

Also a nickname for George Galloway, though I suspect he came up with it himself.

That Gorgeous George wiki is a trip in itself---dunno if all its claims are true, but yeah Muhammad Ali and James Brown acknowledged his influence---makes me think of early 70s Alice Cooper too, screwing with the audience---ditto Andy Kaufman, who even worked wrestling into his act, and made that take-off on My Dinner with Andre Kaufman's film short was the raucousBreakfast With Blassie, co-starring the George opponent mentioned by Wiki.
(And I think George is in that early 70s Creem cover feature, The Androgyny Hall of Fame.)

Yeah, I had heard of the wrestler but nothing in the song really pins it to him. I still think it’s about Boy George.

Not an OJ fan but I do dig Gorgeous George, really varied album with some great guitar sounds

― brimstead

yeah the thing i like about that album is it's kinda like one of those free cds that used to come with guitar mags where they do an fx pedal rundown and demo each one

new album -which is indeed decent- prompted a revisit to i'm not following you. my controp here is a positive one: i think that's his best solo album. it's so much fun and just kaleidoscopic in its subjects. i love 'mess' albums and it exemplifies how that could go accidentally right in the mid-90s. love it so much. and mes is on it!

also idk when this happened, but his jangly 1990 album hellbent on compromise has hit streaming platforms in the usa. very recommended.

Come to think of it, Coals To Newcastle, review of which I linked above, is now 15 years old, so you might could get some good deals on a used or even sealed copy---like it says in there, has

OJ's apparently very, very complete output, including tracks rescued from flexi-discs, B-side stingers, 12-inch dub mixes, and demos, alongside the two and a half albums completed and released during the band's 1979–1985 active status: 124 remastered audio tracks total, including 16 previously unreleased. The DVD adds a couple early videos for singles to the TV performances and concert footage previously issued on VHS as Dada With (the) Juice.