Phil Collen

Collen joined Joe Satriani and John Petrucci on the 2018 edition of the G3 Tour in the United States.

In 2017, Collen was featured on three tracks of the reunited The Professionals album "What in the World."

Phillip Kenneth Collen was born in Hackney, London, England. Collen got his first guitar on his 16th birthday, a red Gibson SG, and taught himself how to play. He played with several bands including Lucy, Tush, and Dumb Blondes.

Phil Collen formed a blues project by the name of Delta Deep with vocalist Debbi Blackwell Cook of the 80's group The Jammers, which released an eponymous debut in 2015.

Recently, his live rig with Def Leppard consists of various Jackson PC1 guitars, some are modified, all equipped with Dimarzio pickups, Floyd Rose Tremolo Units and Sustainers. For acoustics, Collen uses several Fenders acoustics. For strings, Collen uses D'Addario 0.13 - 0.54 and 0.13 - 0.56 gauge strings.

In 2010, Collen recorded the song "Hard Times Celebrate" with rapper Bazaar Royale, featured on the album "The Ride."

Collen has also worked in side projects with Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott. One of these recent projects was a tribute to David Bowie and Mick Ronson. He and Elliott also joined with Trevor Bolder and Mick "Woody" Woodmansey from Spiders from Mars and keyboardist Dick Decent to form the band Cybernauts. In 2001 they released a live album of Bowie songs.

In 1996, Collen performed as a featured guitarist on the Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle album - a tribute album to Jeff Beck. Collen performed on the single, "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers" from the album.

In 1993, Collen executive produced the album Sublime to the Ridiculous for the band, Sheer Greed, composed of former members of Girl, an act Collen was also associated earlier in his career.

In 1991, Collen offered a song he had written, "Miss You in a Heartbeat" to the band The Law, which was featured on the band's self-titled album. This album was the band's only release. "Miss You in a Heartbeat" was later recorded and released by Def Leppard.

In 1990, Collen co-produced the On the Edge album of the Australian band BB Steal.

Collen has lived in the US for 25 years, and currently resides in Orange County, Southern California. He commented, "I'm almost a California native now." He has five children; Rory (born 1990), Samantha (born 2004), Savannah (born 2009), Charlotte (born 2014), Jaxson (born 2018). He was married to Jacqueline Collen-Tarolly (1989) and Anita Thomas-Collen (1999). He married actress costume designer Helen L. Simmons in 2010.

In 1989, Collen worked with Jackson Guitars to develop an ergonomically correct electric guitar, although according to Collen, he designed them because "they looked cool," and they ended up having bad balance, as well as a "really weird shape."

Before Collen's entrance into Def Leppard on 12 July 1982 during the recording of Pyromania, he had previously been asked to consider joining the band during the 1981 tour for High 'n' Dry by Joe Elliott and Steve Clark, whom he knew at the time. Despite this invitation, there was no need to replace Pete Willis yet and as a result, Collen stayed as a member of Girl for the time being.

During the 1980s, Collen quit drinking alcohol, which he had developed into a serious addiction, stopped eating meat, and adopted a generally healthy lifestyle. According to Collen, he began suffering from blackouts due to alcohol and quit when he realized that he was losing control of his addiction, which was starting to dominate his life. In contrast, Clark did not follow such standards and died due to alcohol abuse in early 1991.

Philip Kenneth Collen (born 8 December 1957) is an English musician. He is the co-lead guitarist for the rock band Def Leppard, joining the band in 1982 during the recording of the Pyromania album.