- Born
- Birth namePhilip David Charles Collins
- Nickname
- Little Elvis
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Phil Collins was born in Chiswick, London, England, to Winifred (Strange), a theatrical agent, Greville Philip Austin Collins, an insurance agent. He spent most of his early entertainment life as a young actor and model. He played the "Artful Dodger" in the West End production of "Oliver!" alongside the future movie screen "Artful Dodger," Jack Wild. His interest in music and drumming began at school, where he drummed with a stage school band "The Real Thing," subsequently joining "Freehold" and "Flaming Youth." "Flaming Youth" recorded an album to some critical acclaim, although the group disbanded shortly afterward. Collins later successfully auditioned for Genesis, taking over vocals from Peter Gabriel when he left the band in 1975.
After separating from his first wife, Collins recorded his first solo album, "Face Value." The album was well received and Collins started to become a household name after the song "In the Air Tonight" was featured on the US TV show Miami Vice (1984). This instigated a guest appearance on the show playing a game show host. His third LP, "No Jacket Required," produced multiple chart hits and awards.
Collins is an active musician and entertainer, contributing and guesting regularly on many albums, ranging from Gary Brooker and Camel (Peter Barden's old band) to Eric Clapton. Collins also played as the drummer for the jazz fusion group Brand X and later formed his own big band to play swing and jazz music.
Collins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. With over 200 million album sales (when his solo career and Genesis career are combined), Collins is one of the most successful musicians of all time, as well as probably the most successful British pop star to have been consistently overlooked for the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British music.
Actress Lily Collins is his daughter (her mother is his second wife, Jill Tavelman).
- IMDb mini biography by: Julie Lowe-Sanchez
- SpousesOrianne Collins(July 24, 1999 - August 17, 2008) (divorced, 2 children)Jill Tavelman(August 4, 1984 - December 5, 1996) (divorced, 1 child)Andrea Collins(September 27, 1975 - February 2, 1980) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- The gated reverberation on his drums
- His technically complicated drumming in various time signatures
- His romantic ballads
- His distinctive singing voice and emotive delivery
- He often uses a combination of live drums with drum machines and electric drums on his recordings
- His song "In The Air Tonight" was originally proposed to appear on the Genesis album "Duke", but Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford decided against recording it. It became Collins' first solo hit instead and remains one of his most famous songs.
- Collins released the single "Another Day in Paradise" in 1989 to raise awareness of homelessness around the world. Some critics accused him of hypocrisy as a millionaire musician. However, he collected money for homeless charities from fans at concerts and then donated double the total takings out of his own money. It was not the first time Collins had referred to the issue in his lyrics. He had previously written about the subject in the Genesis song "Man on the Corner" for the 1981 album "Abacab".
- "Against All Odds" won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1985, and it was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Collins was the only nominee in the category not invited to sing his song on stage, and sat in the audience as Ann Reinking performed it. His perceived negative reaction shown on the telecast is considered to be one of the most awkward moments in the history of the ceremony, and has been a favorite reference for Dennis Miller to relate someone reacting in a horrified fashion.
- His favourite guitarist is Eric Clapton, who played on his singles "If Leaving Me Is Easy" and "I Wish It Would Rain Down".
- He started to play drums at the age of five.
- I'm not a singer who plays a bit of drums. I'm a drummer that sings a bit.
- I don't own an ABBA album and I never had the urge to go and buy one. If you're just talking about well crafted pop songs, they were fantastic.
- I prefer black music in general.
- We're (Genesis) tarred with a brush we don't deserve... like Grateful Dead - now, I've never even heard a Grateful Dead album, but they're there in that corner, the same as we are to people who have never heard us! Maybe if I listened, I might like them. But it's frustrating, when we started, we used to got compared with Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Yes and the Floyd (Pink Floyd), because we used mellotrons and synthesisers, and were quite theatrical, but no one's put me in the same area as The Human League because they use drum machines.
- [to a music journalist in 1982] You put Genesis over there in a corner with Yes, ELP [Emerson Lake and Palmer], Moody Blues [The Moody Blues] and the Floyd [Pink Floyd] because that's the period we happened to come up in. I don't like any of those groups - so it angers me and frustrates me when we get compared to them.
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