Parenting Panel with George Collins
George Collins's journey is a remarkable transition from a seasoned corporate executive to a flourishing musician and singer songwriter.
After two decades in the corporate world, Collins surprised his loved ones by returning to the stage, reigniting his long-dormant passion for music. His critically acclaimed debut solo EP, “It’s Been a Long Time” marked the beginning of a new chapter in his career, earning him an international fanbase.
Now, with his sophomore release, 'Songs for Grown-ups,' Collins delves into themes of gratitude, introspection, and personal growth, drawing on his rich life experiences as a screenwriter, novelist, and dedicated family man. Through his insightful narratives and catchy melodies, Collins invites listeners to embark on a journey of self-discovery and resilience.
In 2012, at the age of 50, Collins had his first child, and he made the fateful decision to bow out of his very lucrative 20-year career as an investment consultant and financial executive to nurture his creative world and be a dedicated full-time parent.
He and his wife welcomed their second child in 2015, just weeks shy of his fifty-fourth birthday.
With the upcoming album “Songs for Grown-ups”, an energetic yet introspective EP with a title that nods to Graham Nash’s 1971 album Songs for Beginners, George Collins continues to develop his passions as an indie musician.
We caught up with George recently for an Exclusive Interview to discover more about his musical inspirations, parenthood, and how being a parent has helped his creativity.
How many children do you have? And what are their names and ages?
I have two daughters – Julie is 11 and Stella is eight.
Did you have fears or concerns about how becoming a parent would interfere with your artistic endeavors?
No, but perhaps I should have! I got a late start as a father – I was fifty years old when my first child was born. I had already had a high-powered career in finance, but I resigned my partnership in an investment firm when Julie was born so I could focus on my creative pursuits and being a full-time Dad. I had already been working sixty-hour weeks for over twenty years, so I was fairly confident that I would be able to find time for and balance these new activities.
Have those fears come true, or not?
I did not fully realize how all-consuming parenthood would be – I don’t think anyone who doesn’t have children can fully appreciate this. Certainly, there have been times when I would rather have been writing or practicing than changing diapers, putting the kids to bed or otherwise attending to family obligations – so of course there are occasional frustrations – but overall I have been able to strike the right balance between parenting and creating.
Since my first daughter was born, I have recorded and released two EPs of original music as well as written thirteen new songs that are just moving into production. I have also written two novels and a screenplay, and I recently recorded a series of podcast musicals based on my songs – all while raising two daughters, shuttling them to school and ballet lessons every day, helping them with homework, taking them to the park and birthday parties and playdates, and all the other stuff that comes with being a Dad.
So I guess I am living proof that balancing family obligations and creative work can be done – but I also realize that I am fortunate to be able to do my music and writing full-time. If I had an outside job, I don’t think I’d be able to manage it all – certainly not at my current pace of productivity.
In what ways has parenthood helped your creativity, if any?
My children inspire me every day, both in terms of content creation as well as motivating me to do my best work at all times. Also, although I am no fan of Hip Hop or K-Pop, my young daughters (who are both very talented at singing and dancing) listen to music all the time and expose me to contemporary artists and hits that I would never have come across otherwise, which keeps my own songwriting fresh.
What has parenthood taught you about yourself, your music, or your creative process?
First, that everything is potential material – so I am constantly scribbling notes and observations that might eventually make it into my music or a story. Second, that one cannot sit around and wait for inspiration to strike – my working day is essentially while my daughters are in school, so I have to make those precious hours when I’m alone as productive as possible. Third, even though I am fifty years older than my children and I obviously grew up in a completely different world, childhood hopes, dreams, fears and anxieties remain the same, and becoming a parent at a relatively advanced age has re-connected me to my own childhood. I have heard that “Having children when you’re young makes you old; having children when you’re old keeps you young” – and that is certainly true in my case.
How do you juggle your family and your career? Who’s your support system?
My wife and I do almost everything ourselves. Grandma (my wife’s mother) lives in a nearby town and the girls love to visit her whenever they can, but for the day-to-day stuff it’s my wife and I down in the trenches. Since my wife works an outside job, this means that it usually falls to me to get the girls to school, ballet, playdates, etc. We divide the shopping. My wife cooks and I do the dishes. She helps them with their Czech homework, I help with the English homework. When the girls were younger we took turns reading to them in Czech and English before bed, but now they read themselves. We do have a cleaning lady come by for a few hours once a week, so that helps take a bit of the pressure off. As I mentioned before, my working day is essentially the hours when my children are at school and my wife is at her office, so I try to make them count.
Do your children inspire / inform your music?
Absolutely!
Have you ever written a song for or about your kids? If so, please share a description and a link.
I released a single last December called “My Wish for You.” It’s a tender, hooky love song I wrote for my daughters, and I released it on my younger daughter’s eighth birthday.
As mentioned before, I got a late start as a father – my first child, a girl, was born eleven years ago when I was 50 years old. At the time, I was planning to transition out of my career in finance to be a full-time Dad and focus on creative pursuits. I had started writing my first novel, so I was always carrying a notebook and pen with me wherever I went to jot down ideas and images.
But at that time, I had not written a song in twenty years.
It was a hot summer day in August 2012, and I was walking back home from the hospital after witnessing the miraculous birth of my daughter that morning. Needless to say, it was an emotionally overwhelming experience. Halfway home, with my head and heart swirling, I received a download, and the chorus for what eventually became "My Wish for You" arrived almost fully formed.
I pulled out my notebook and jotted down the lines – I still have that paper to this day (but then again, I never throw away anything – much to my wife's annoyance!). I was sitting on a stone wall around the corner from the hospital, tears streaming down my face as I scribbled as fast as I could – attracting numerous stares from passers-by, but I didn't care.
Ten years later, I was writing songs for the "Songs for Grown-ups" EP, and I decided to revisit these lines and finally finish this song. I imagined a scenario in which a father is snuggling his newborn daughter and expressing his hopes for her life. Indeed, I didn't have to imagine – I have the photographs of me in the hospital that morning, cuddling my daughter minutes after her birth and singing Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" to her.
I knew I already had most of the chorus, with its recurring, "May you…" and I decided this would become a main feature of the song, along with the hook, "That is my wish for you."
I started jotting down lines of what I would wish for my daughters (by now I had two), turning for inspiration to F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic "Letter to His Daughter," in which he advises the eleven-year-old girl on "things to worry about, and things not to worry about."
I then continued making a laundry list of wishes, until I had almost a hundred. Then I crafted them into rhyming couplets, paying special attention to their emotional impact, rhythm and singability.
It took some time but eventually I whittled that long list down to the ten that I use in the lyrics. The rest of the wishes I set aside for another day – and another song. Last year I also released a song called “Where Have I Been All Your Life,” which started out as a clever play on words but ended up as a personal reflection on being present and absent in the lives of those we love – including my children.
In addition, I have written two new songs that will appear on my next album!
The first is a ballad called “My Tomorrow Is Already Missing You Today,” about the painful realization that my children will eventually grow up and leave home, while the second, “Stay Young,” is an upbeat tune advising my daughters not to grow up too fast.
So stay tuned for new tunes!
Listen to George Collins’ new single “Scarred For Life” below!