Newton Collier
Newton Collier was born on July 23, 1945 in Macon, Georgia. His parents, Lucile Birdsong and Newton Collier, led a group called the Sweethearts of Rhythm. With his parents' example to guide him, Collier began playing piano at age six and the trumpet at ten. He started playing professionally with the Pinetoppers, the original band backing Otis Redding. Soon after graduating from Ballard Hudson High School in 1963, he joined Sam and Dave, who are best known for their 1967 Grammy award-winning song "Soul Man."
Sam and Dave's band broke up in 1970 after an international tour. The horn section formed a new band called LTD and moved to Boston. Collier worked on a freelance basis and married his sweetheart, Beverly Nelson. Their daughter, Charity, was born in 1973. Then, one night in 1976, tragedy struck. Collier was going home from an engagement when an unknown assailant shot him in the face. After three years of reconstructive surgery and recovery, Collier could speak well enough to be understood-but he could not withstand the pressure required to play the trumpet or trombone.
After the accident, Collier helped publish Progressive Platter Music Review. Having studied electronics at Boston's Wentworth Institute, he found work as an electronic technician-first at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1970 to 1976, then at Wells Fargo from 1976 to 1982. From 1979 to 1988, he worked in the fledgling computer industry at Honeywell Computers. In 1984, Collier learned of an instrument designed by John Steiner at M.I.T. called the E.V.I., Electronic Valve Instrument. This windblown synthesizer, sounding like a trumpet but requiring far less air, enabled Collier to play in Boston-area cafes and small clubs.
In 1988, Collier moved back to Macon and opened Collier's Records and Tapes, specializing in rare and collectible albums. Unfortunately, despite the store's magnificent collection, it did not turn a profit and closed in 1997. Collier now makes a living as a taxicab driver.
Bibliography:
Who's Who in Black Music, 1984. p. 128.
A2002.014
Male
3/18/2002
Collier
New Ballard Hudson Middle School
Ingram/Pye Elementary School
Miller Fine Arts Magnet Middle School
Newton
Macon
COL04
All Seasons
Knight Foundation
Georgia
Memphis, Tennessee
I Take What I Want, And I'm A Bad Boy. I Go Get It.

Georgia
7/23/1945
Macon
United States
Grits
R & B trumpet player and R & B trombone player Newton Collier (1945 - ) was a former member of Sam and Dave, best known for their song, "Soul Man." After a critical gunshot wound in the face, Collier was no longer able to play traditional instruments, but transitioned to a windblown synthesizer and later opened Collier's Records and Tapes.
Sam & Dave
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Wells Fargo
Honeywell, Inc.
Collier's Records and Tapes

Blue, Green
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Newton Collier's interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Newton Collier lists his favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Newton Collier describes his parents' backgrounds
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Newton Collier talks about his childhood interest in music
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Newton Collier describes his grandmothers
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Newton Collier describes his relationship with his mother
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Newton Collier talks about his step-father and his siblings
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Newton Collier describes growing up in Macon, Georgia
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Newton Collier describes having spinal meningitis as a small child
Tape: 1 Story: 10 - Newton Collier describes his childhood personality
Tape: 1 Story: 11 - Newton Collier talks about being introduced to music as a child
Tape: 1 Story: 12 - Newton Collier recalls his favorite teachers
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Newton Collier remembers how spinal meningitis affected his childhood
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Newton Collier talks about his music mentor, Robert Scott
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Newton Collier describes learning to play the trumpet
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Newton Collier recalls playing his first solo at the Two Spot Club as a teenager
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Newton Collier talks about music mentor and bandleader Gladys Williams
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Newton Collier describes the sights, sounds, and smells of Macon, Georgia
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Newton Collier recalls meeting Sammy Davis, Jr.
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Newton Collier shares his earliest memories of Otis Redding
Tape: 2 Story: 9 - Newton Collier talks about deciding to tour with Otis Redding
Tape: 2 Story: 10 - Newton Collier recalls joining Leroy Lloyd and the Swinging Dukes
Tape: 2 Story: 11 - Newton Collier remembers meeting Maceo Parker
Tape: 2 Story: 12 - Newton Collier talks about club owner, Clint Brantley, and his acts James Brown and Little Richard
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Newton Collier recalls avoiding trouble while spending time at Clint Brantley's club
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Newton Collier talks about how shrewdly Clint Brantley handled his club promotion business, pt.1
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Newton Collier talks about how shrewdly Clint Brantley handled his club promotion business, pt.2
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Newton Collier talks about playing trumpet for Sam and Dave and the emergence of Stax records
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Newton Collier describes life on tour with Sam and Dave in the volatile 1960s
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Newton Collier talks about producing and arranging songs for Sam and Dave
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Newton Collier recalls learning about Otis Redding's death
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - Newton Collier describes the impact of Otis Redding's death on him
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - Newton Collier talks about moving to Boston, Massachusetts in 1969 and getting married
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Newton Collier shares memories of the Doo Wop musicians in his neighborhood
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Newton Collier talks about his relationship with Otis Redding
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Newton Collier talks about returning to the music business
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Newton Collier talks about forming the band LTD featuring Jeffrey Osborne
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Newton Collier talks about promoting the band LTD
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Newton Collier talks about being hired at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Newton Collier describes working at MIT and NASA
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Newton Collier describes astronaut Ronald McNair
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Newton Collier describes being shot in 1976
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Newton Collier talks about his recovery from a facial gunshot wound
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Newton Collier talks about opening his record store Collier's Corner
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Newton Collier talks about Ronald McNair's death in 1986
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Newton Collier talks about his mother's later years and death
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Newton Collier talks about his father's death
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Newton Collier describes discovering his Native American ancestry
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Newton Collier talks about becoming part of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Newton Collier talks about the role of music for African American young people
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - Newton Collier reflects upon his legacy
Tape: 5 Story: 11 - Newton Collier describes the chittlin circuit
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - Newton Collier talks about discrimination while touring in the South
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - Newton Collier contrasts various musical styles and describes how he learned to write charts
Tape: 6 Story: 3 - Newton Collier narrates his photographs
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