Phil Collins Pictures, Biography, Profile, Facts, Discography, Filmography, more.

Philip David Charles Collins was born January 30, 1951 in London. Phil Collins is a British rock/pop musician. He was the lead drummer for the jazz-fusion group Brand X and progressive rock band Genesis.

Phil Collins from his 1984 music video 'Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)'

Phil Collins has collaborated with such well known musicians as George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Mike Oldfield, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Ravi Shankar.

After a short 1969 stint with the band Flaming Youth, the London-born Collins auditioned for Genesis, then an up-and-coming progressive rock band fronted by promising musical visionary Peter Gabriel. Hired as the band's drummer in 1970, he debuted on their 1971 album "Nursery Cryme". The drummer first sang lead with the moving ballad "More Fool Me" from Genesis' 1973 concept album "Selling England By the Pound". Despite the positive reaction to the track and the reality that Collins' voice was in many ways technically superior to Gabriel's, when the front man left the art-rock outfit to embark on his solo career, the remaining band members auditioned hundreds of singers.

unsuccessfully before finally giving Collins lead vocal duties in 1974. Genesis' first album without Gabriel was not released until two years after his departure, but Collins kept busy as drummer of the fusion jazz project Brand X, another experimental and influential combo. At varying times throughout his career, the industrious Collins managed to record with Genesis and Brand X concurrently, even while undertaking huge world tours with the former as well as working on solo material.

Collins' work with Genesis began to move away from the band's original epic laden art-rock foundation and into a more radio-friendly pop/R&B inflected sound. This change grew more and more evident, and by 1981 Genesis had scored a veritable pop hit with the brass-heavy "No Reply at All" off their release "Abacab". That same year, Collins made his solo debut with the album "Face Value", featuring the haunting and timeless "In the Air Tonight". The album was a hit, and the following year's follow up "Hello, I Must Be Going" was also a success. A 1983 hit record for Genesis came next, and in 1984 Collins would pen the love theme to "Against All Odds", a composition that became a hugely successful single and garnered the songwriter an Oscar nomination and Grammy award. Soon he would release the hit album "No Jacket Required" (1985) featuring no less than four certified hit singles. That summer, the now-superstar was the only artist to play on Live Aid stages in both London and Philadelphia.

While all of this solo success certainly kept Collins busy, it didn't keep him from his original band - Genesis. 1986 saw Genesis release the chart-topping album "Invisible Touch", an unprecedented success for the band, with five of the album's eight tracks becoming top selling singles. In the five years between "Invisible Touch" and Genesis' next release, 1991's "We Can't Dance", Collins released his fourth solo album, 1989's "...But Seriously", and earnestly tried his hand at an acting career. The 1991 Genesis release and the two live albums chronicling the supporting tour released that year would be Collins' swan song with the band. His 1993 solo album "Both Sides" didn't turn out hit singles like his previous works had, but it was a notable and truly solo effort: in addition to writing and singing all of the songs, Collins also played every instrument on the album. In 1996 Collins stunned many fans by announcing his departure from Genesis after 26 years. He decided that a solo career was all he needed, plus the odd soundtrack, world tour etc., and he released another album. The album, titled "Dance Into the Light" failed to radiate much Top 40 heat, and Collins used this opportunity to try something new; indulging his lifelong dream of playing in a jazz band, he formed the Phil Collins Big Band. The project, with Collins on drums, performed standards and jazz instrumental versions of some of his biggest hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a successful world tour in 1998, including two dates at the prestigious Montreaux Jazz Festival. All the while, Collins was working on songs for Disney's "Tarzan" (1999), an animated project that would help to firmly reinstate him on the top of the charts.

An unquestionably gifted musician, Collins first pursued an acting career, enrolling in a stage school with which his talent agent mother was affiliated. From here, he landed an uncredited extra role as a screaming fan in The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" (1964). He abandoned acting for many years to focus on music, but those who watched Collins' stage theatrics and hammy music video performances were not surprised when he began taking small guest acting parts, notably a featured role in a 1985 episode of the impossibly hip "Miami Vice" (NBC) that came hot on the heels of the singer's chart-topping third solo effort and his amazing transcontinental Live Aid performances. In 1988, he took the lead role in the comedy caper "Buster", starring as the title thief who pulled off 1964's Great Train Robbery. Relatively short in stature and balding, Collins proved a charming and affable screen presence, with an open expressive face easy with goofy expressions. In 1989, Collins was featured in The Who's twentieth anniversary performance of their rock opera "Tommy", with an appropriately repulsive portrayal of wicked Uncle Ernie. He followed up with a featured role as a police inspector in 1991's "Hook" and next tackled drama, sporting a greased up hairdo and mustache, looking every inch the part for his role as a sleazy owner of a San Francisco bathhouse in 1993's exceptional HBO production "And the Band Played On". That same year he played a chillingly vacant-eyed insurance inspector in the Australian black comedy "Frauds" and in 1995 took on a very different project, lending his voice to a pair of polar bears in the animated children's feature "Balto".

While Collins was a capable and likable actor, he proved, from his hit love theme for "Against All Odds" to his moving song score for Disney's "Tarzan", that his most notable work in film made the most of his musical gifts. While he failed to score an Academy Award (losing to Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You"), the track has proven more enduring than the film itself. As a vocalist, Collins dueted with Marilyn Martin with the Stephen Bishop penned 1985 hit "Separate Lives" from "White Nights". His next project, 1988's "Buster" spawned two hit songs, the original "Two Hearts" (which netted him a second Oscar nod) and a cover of the 1960s syrupy "Groovy Kind of Love". He was reportedly apprehensive about taking on the song score of "Tarzan", faced with the task of writing in a storytelling style. His lyrical technique was always more free-associative than intellectualized, the songwriter admitting that even his oft-analyzed hit "In the Air Tonight" was not really meant to be about anything at all. Working closely for over two years alongside producers and animators, the perfectionist did countless drafts and rewrites, and ended up with five inspired compositions for the Disney film. The use of music in "Tarzan" went in a different direction than the studio's past animated features, instead of the character's singing the songs, Collins acted almost as a narrator, with the songs as background accompaniment and the lyrics serving to forward the story lines. The film's touching lullaby "You'll Be In My Heart" lived up to the Disney standard for memorable theme songs, becoming a summer hit single and showing certain potential to live on in popular consciousness. Phil Collins went on to receive two Academy Awards for Tarzan - Best Film Score and Most Original Song for "You'll Be In My Heart". He then co-wrote the Score for the next Disney Release - "Brother Bear" as well as contributed 5 new songs to the Soundtrack.

Phil Collins' ascent to the status of one of the most successful pop and adult-contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond was probably as much of a surprise to him as it was to many others. Balding and diminutive, Collins was almost 30-years old when his first solo single, "In the Air Tonight," became a number two hit in his native U.K. (the song was a Top 20 hit in the U.S.). Between 1984 and 1990, Collins had a string of 13 straight U.S. Top Ten hits.

Phil Collins Trivia / Timeline:

Left-handed.

He plays the piano.

Singer/Drummer; Ex-Member of the rock band Genesis.

His favourite guitarist is Eric Clapton.

Appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in 1994.

Trustee, Prince's Trust, since 1983.

He was one of the guests at Prince Charles's and Camilla Parker-Bowles' wedding.

Left Genesis in 1996.

He never topped the UK singles chart with Genesis but had solo number ones with "You Can't Hurry Love" (1983), "Easy Lover" (1985) and "A Groovy Kind of Love" (1988).

Along with Tony Thompson of The Power Station, he sat in for the late John Bonham during Led Zeppelin's performance at Live Aid.

In 1999 he reunited with his former Genesis bandmates Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett for a re-recording of the Genesis song "The Carpet Crawlers" (originally from their 1974 album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"), which appears on the Genesis compilation "Turn it on Again".

Played drums on Robert Plant's first two solo albums as well as accompanying Plant on his first solo tour.

Has a son, Simon (b. 1976) and daughter, Joely (b. 1973) with his first wife, Andrea; a daughter, Lily (b. 1989) with his second wife, Jill; and a son, Nicholas (b. 2001) with his current wife, Orianne.

In 2000, Mariah Carey and Westlife had a British number one hit with a cover of his song "Against All Odds" (originally a hit for Collins in 1984).

Beat out many singers as a replacement for vocalist Peter Gabriel after Gabriel left Genesis for a solo career. Most fans didn't really notice not only due to the simularity in both singers voices, but because Collins had been singing back up to Gabriel for years in the band.

Performed at the BBC's annual Children in Need charity event. [21 November 2003]

Played at both Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia segments of Live Aid. He was able to accomplish the feat by hopping on the Concord and flying to Philadelphia as soon as he finished his set in London.

Chester Thomson played drums on Genesis and Phil Collins solo tours - thus enabling Phil to go out front where the punters could see him.

Is of Irish and British descent.

Beat South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Best Original Song Oscar in 1999. In return, Parker and Stone have ridiculed Phil Collins in several South Park episodes.

Played drums and sang back up on Eric Clapton's single "Bad Love" from his album "Clapton Chronicles: The best of Eric Clapton" (1989)

Started to play drums at the age of five.

Father of actress, Joely Collins.

Son of talent agent June Collins.

Quotations by Phil Collins:

"Ever since I can remember, I've watched the Oscar shows. Watching all those great actors, writers and directors receiving the Holy Grail. I never thought in a million years that I'd get a nomination. As years rolled by I was lucky enough to be included a couple of times. When my third time came with Tarzan (1999), I truly didn't believe it would be me. When Cher opened the envelope and said "Ph..." you could have knocked me down with a feather. It really was, and is, an incredible feeling. Of all the awards I've been fortunate to collect over the years, the Oscar is the most treasured." [About his Academy Award]

"No one's put me in the same area as the Human League because they use drum machines."

"I prefer black music in general."

"Apart from Hugh Fielder, I can't think of any journalist who actually likes Genesis."

I just don't think of myself as a star. This is what I do for a living; I'm fortunate that I make ends meet.

The difference between the American version of Live Aid and the British one - in England, if you wanted a cup of tea, you made it yourself. If you wanted a sandwich, you bought it. In typical American style, at the American concert, there were laminated tour passes and champagne and caviar. I don't doubt anyone's moral commitment to the cause, but the caviar and the cause just didn't jibe for me.

"You put Genesis over there in a corner with Yes, ELP, Moody Blues and the 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."

"I was keen to meet some of the people who have slagged me off, people like Paul Morley at NME and Paul Colbert at Melody Maker just to show them that I'm not actually what they think I am."

Phil Collins Discography:

Love Songs - 2004

HISTORY

Album: Released November 2004

The Platinum Collection - 2004

HISTORY

Album: Released November 2004

Brother Bear Soundtrack - 2003

Testify - 2002

HISTORY

Album:

Released November 2002

Tarzan Soundtrack - 1999

Big Band - A Hot Night In Paris - 1999

Hits - 1998

HISTORY

Album: Released October 1998

1997 12-ers

1996 Dance Into the Light

1993 Both Sides

1990 Serious Hits... Live

1989 But Seriously

1985 No Jacket Required

1982 Hello I Must Be Going

1981 Face Value

Singles:

Mrz 2003 The Least You Can Do/wake Up Call (uk Double...

Feb 2003 Come With Me

Sep 2002 Can't Stop Loving You

You'll Be In My Heart

Mrz 2003 Dance Into The Light

Okt 1996 Dance Into The Light

Sep 1996 Dance Into The Light

Mai 1994 We Wait & We Wonder

Feb 1994 Everyday

Dez 1993 Both Sides Of The Story

Mai 1993 Another Day In Paradise

Jun 1992 In The Air Tonight

Nov 1989 Another Day In Paradise

Mrz 1991 A Groovy Kind Of Love

Phil Collins Discography By Song:

I Missed Again (1981 March)

In The Air Tonight (1981 January)

If Leaving Me Is Easy (1981 May)

Thru These Walls (1982 October)

You Can't Hurry Love (1982 November)

I Don't Care Anymore (1983 February)

Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away (1983 March)

I Cannot Believe It's True (1983 May)

Why Can't It Wait 'Til Morning (1983 May)

Against All Odds (1984 February)

Easy Lover (1984 November)

Walk Through The Fire (1984)

Sussudio (1985 January)

One More Night (1985 February)

Don't Lose My Number (1985 July)

Take Me Home (1985 July)

Separate Lives (1985 October)

In The Air Tonight ('88 Remix) (1988 June)

A Groovy Kind of Love (1988 August)

Two Hearts (1988 November)

Another Day In Paradise (1989 November)

I Wish It Would Rain Down (1990 January)

Do You Remember (1990 April)

Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (1990 April)

That's Just The Way It Is (1990 July)

In The Air Tonight (live) (1990)

Hang In Long Enough (1990 September)

Do You Remember (live) (1990 November)

Who Said I Would (live) (1991 February)

Both Sides of the Story (1993 October)

Everyday (1994 January)

We Wait And Wonder (1994 April)

Dance Into The Light (1996 September)

It's In Your Eyes (1997 January)

True Colors (1998 October)

You'll Be In My Heart (1999 June)

Strangers Like Me (1999 June)

Can't Stop Loving You (2002 September)

Come With Me (2003 February)

Look Through My Eyes (from Disney's Brother Bear) (October 2003)

Phil Collins Filmography:

As Composer:

Tarzan II (2005) (V) (songs)

Brother Bear (2003) ... aka Tierra de osos (USA: Spanish title)

"Go' røv & go' weekend" (2003) TV Series ... aka Rockerne (Denmark: video title)

Paid in Full (2002) (song "In the Air Tonight" from album "Face Value" 1981)

Moulin Rouge! (2001) (song "One More Night")

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony: Greatest Video Hits (2000) (V) (song "Home")

Mrs. Death 2: Hells Fury (2000) (song "In The Air Tonight") ... aka Hell's Fury (USA: closing credits title)

Tarzan (1999) (songs)

Musterknaben 2, Die (1999) (TV) (song)

Phil Collins: The Singles Collection (1990) (V) (songs)

Buster (1988) (songs)

The Color of Money (1986) (song "One More Night")

Playing for Keeps (1986) (song "We Said Hello, Goodbye, Don't Look Back")

Eric Clapton and Friends (1986) (TV) (song "In the Air Tonight")

"Miami Vice" (1984) TV Series (song "In the Air Tonight")

Against All Odds (1984) (song "Against All Odds")

Risky Business (1983) (song "In the Air Tonight")

Genesis: A Band in Concert (1977) (songs)

As Actor:

The Jungle Book 2 (2003) (voice) .... Lucky

Balto (1995) (voice) .... Muk and Luk

Calliope (1994) .... Jackson Dover

Frauds (1993) .... Roland Copping

And the Band Played On (1993) (TV) .... Eddie Papasano

Hook (1991) .... Inspector Good

The Who Live, Featuring the Rock Opera Tommy (1989) (TV) .... Uncle Ernie

Buster (1988) .... Buster Edwards

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) .... Kid with bandage on face ... aka Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (USA: complete title)

Calamity the Cow (1967) (as Philip Collins) .... Mike Lucas

A Hard Day's Night (1964) (uncredited)