Paul Collins

Paul Collins is an American musician. He was the drummer (and sometime singer & songwriter) in seminal Los Angeles power pop trio The Nerves, one of the first LA pop groups, alongside

Paul Collins is an American musician. He was the drummer (and sometime singer & songwriter) in seminal Los Angeles power pop trio The Nerves, one of the first LA pop groups, alongside Jack Lee and future Plimsouls frontman Peter Case. The band are best remembered for "Hanging on the Telephone", a song later made famous by Blondie. After The Nerves' demise, Paul Collins eventually formed his own group as singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter for The Beat (US), sometimes called The Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British ska group also called The Beat (or The English Beat in the US). The Beat were another influential power pop group; their self-titled 1979 debut is regarded as a classic of the genre. They appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and contributed a song to the Caddyshack soundtrack, but they were never as commercially successful outside LA as The Plimsouls and broke up in the early '80s. Paul Collins continues to perform to this day; he has a particularly strong following in Spain.