Billy Collins was born in 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He was married to Bettye Frances Shreeve Collins. He died on 9 January 2018 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA.
He was born into a working class family. His father was of Irish decent and his mother was a Native American. He worked as a Truck Driver. He was a former welterweight professional boxer (with a record 38 wins - 17 loss - 1 draw) who had once fought world champion Curtis Cokes. He trained his son to follow in his footsteps since before kindergarten.