Bill Collins

The name Bill Collins is at the center of a scattering of imbroglios involving songwriting credits. One of several biographies available under this name is that of the Bill Collins who managed the British rock band Badfinger beginning in the late '60s. He is apparently an example of how easy it is for a band manager to get songwriting credits without actually writing a song. The same practice and variations thereof were in place in the music business decades earlier, with the name Bill Collins in cozy company. Come across this name in songwriting credits from the era of World War II or the smooth '50s and it might very well be a Bill Collins who didn't even really exist. In many cases, it is a pseudonym for Bertha Kapp. She could also be Billy Collins and Bert Kapp, obviously, but might not be so easily recognized as Howard Richards, Rinky Scott Jones, Glenn Gibson, and Adrienne Garblik. Phoebe Snow? Eventually there was a well-known singer and songwriter by this name who sometimes wondered why her publishing statements would include strange titles she knew she didn't write. That's because Kapp, on a non-Bill Collins-type day, had used Phoebe Snow as a pseudonym years before. While there is no record of her breaking down and using Bertha Kapp on a songwriting credit, the surname is actually well-known in the record business. Brothers Dave and Jack Kapp were A&R powerbrokers for Decca in the '40s and the owners of several indie labels, one of them called Kapp. Bertha Kapp was the second wife of Joe Davis, whose activities in the music business included management, A&R, running record labels, publishing, and songwriting. It is sensible to speculate that hubbie's hobbies influenced Kapp's rise in the shadowy world of names behind names. Davis had been an innovator in the...