On a fateful night in 1976, Newton Collier
was driving down the street in Boston when he noticed a
car following closely behind him. "The next thing
I knew, they were beside me. I heard two shots and
felt something WHAM, hit me in my face." Two
bullets had been fired into the car, one ricocheting off
the headrest, entering his face and shattering his
jaw. The tragedy ended the career of one of the
best R&B trumpet players of his
era.
Collier actually began his career as a
child the way most greats do. At ten years old, he
was taking piano lessons from Ms. Gladys Williams in
Macon, GA. One day when he arrived for his lesson,
he noticed a silver Rolls Royce in Ms. Williams
driveway. When he walked in, there was a skinny
little man sitting at the table with a patch over his
eye. Thus, a lifetime dream and a fascination with
the horn began thanks to Sammy Davis,
Jr.
Young Newt worked his way onto the
music scene by doing whatever it took to be close to
those coming up in their careers. Robert Scott
and Harold Smith (aka Shang-a-lang) took him under
his wing and taught him the complicated changes of the
horn. Before long, he had learned so much from
emulating others that he could play alongside
anyone. He accompanied bands like the Eldorados,
The Flintstones, and the Bossa Nova Band, playing
in places like Club 15, the Elks Lodge, and the
VFW. It was a night such as this that he was
approached by Leroy Lloyd and the Swingin' Dukes, an
Augusta band who needed a good horn
player.
It
was while playing with the Dukes that he was noticed by
Sam and Dave, part of Phil Walden's roster, and was
signed on as their second horn when he was only
seventeen years old. At the time, "You Don't Know
Like I Know" was their only hit, but after hitting the
road for awhile, the gang ended up in Memphis, where a
relationship with Isaac Hayes and David Porter produced
such hits as "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I'm Coming."
Before long, Newt was playing clubs like the Filmore in
San Francisco and The Uptown in Philadelphia. This
success was followed by appearances on the Ed Sullivan
Show, Merv Griffin and even the famed Apollo
Theater.
Sam
and Dave broke up in 1970 and Newt moved to Boston,
married, and settled down. Before long though, he
was back on the scene, working with different clubs and
musicians, eventually forming a new band and preparing
to hit the road again. It was while working with
the famed Sugar Shack that the fateful gunshots
occurred, prematurely ending an awesome career. "I
was devastated; I thought it was the worst thing
in the world at the time," remembers Newt. He
spent a month in the hospital and his shattered jaw
required removal of bone from his hip and leg to
reconstruct his face.
Collier remained in Boston until the
late '80s when he moved back to Macon to escape the cold
winters. With his record collection of more than
2000 albums, he opened Collier's Corner, a tiny store
specializing in used jazz, R&B, and gospel
albums. Until the Georgia Music Hall of Fame
opened its doors in 1996, Collier's Corner was the
closest thing to a music museum in Macon. Collier
kept the store open for 10
years.
Since that time, Collier has been
driving a taxi for Radio Cab, but you can't keep a good
man down. He is currently working on a documentary
detailing Macon's contribution to soul music during the
1960-70 decade. The film highlights some 60 soul
musicians hailing from Macon, as well as others from
Memphis and Muscle Shoals, AL. The documentary is
entitled "Soulmakers presents: For Those That
Played, But Didn't Get Paid." The film's release
date is unknown at this time.
Newton Collier is a prime example of
the spirit within the man. Despite his tragedy, he
is determined to make his own contribution to rebuilding
the music scene in Macon. Expect to hear more from
this R&B great in the
future. |