Leonard Raymond Sipes (September 28, 1930 – March 14, 2000), better known as Tommy Collins, was an American country music singer and songwriter.
Biography
Active primarily during the 1950s through the 1970s, Collins was instrumental in helping create the Bakersfield sound of the country music genre. He enjoyed a string of hits during the mid-1950s including "It Tickles" and "Watcha Gonna Do Now".
Many of the songs he wrote were recorded by other artists. His song "If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')" was a top 10 hit for Faron Young in 1954 and, decades later, hit No. 1 on the chart for George Strait in 1988. In late 1963, Buck Owens released an LP consisting entirely of songs written or co-written by Collins, Buck Owens Sings Tommy Collins, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in January 1964, holding the top spot for two weeks.
After several years in the ministry, Collins returned to recording. In 1965, he had a comeback hit with "If You Can't Bite, Don't Growl". In the 1970s, he wrote several hits for Merle Haggard and The Strangers, including the No. 1 hits "Carolyn" and "The Roots of My Raising". In June 1980, Haggard recorded a biographical tribute to Collins called "Leonard".
Collins was the inspiration and character talked about in Craig Morgan's song, "I Wish I Could See Bakersfield".
Collins remained active in the songwriting business. In 1999, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, in a class of inductees that also included Wayne Kemp, A.L. "Doodle" Owens, and Glenn Sutton. He died March 14, 2000, at his home in Ashland City, Tennessee.
Discography Albums Year Album US Country Label 1957 Words and Music Country Style — Capitol 1958 Light of the Lord — 1959 This Is Tommy Collins — 1960 Songs I Love to Sing — 1966 Let's Live a Little — Tower The Dynamic Tommy Collins — Columbia 1968 Shindig — Tower Tommy Collins on Tour (His Most Requested Songs) 44 Columbia 1971 Callin''' | align="center"| — | Starday |- | rowspan="2"| 1980 | Country Souvenir| align="center"| — | rowspan="2"| Greenwood |- | Cowboys Get Lucky Some of the Time| align="center"| — |- | 1986 | New Patches'' — Password
Singles Year Single US Country 1954 "You Better Not Do That" 2 "Whatcha Gonna Do Now" 4 1955 "Untied" 10 "It Tickles" 5 "I Guess I'm Crazy" 13 "You Oughta See Pickles Now" 15 1964 "I Can Do That" (with Wanda Collins) 47 1966 "If You Can't Bite, Don't Growl"A 7 "Shindig in the Barn" 47 1967 "Don't Wipe the Tears That You Cry for Him (On My Good White Shirt)" 62 "Birmingham" 60 "Big Dummy" 52 1968 "I Made the Prison Band" 64 A"If You Can't Bite, Don't Growl" also peaked at number 5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
References
External links [ Tommy Collins] at Allmusic. Tommy Collins at CMT.com