Philip
David Charles Collins
A natural performer Collins attended stage school, and
was soon playing in London's West End. He soon formed a
band called The Real Thing and played his first gigs. He
joined a group called The Freeholdafter being the only
one to reply to their Melody Maker advert. The Freehold
saw Collins make his recording debut with a self-penned
number called "Lying Crying Dying", the original demo of
which has just recently surfaced.
After a while, supporting John Walker of The Walker
Brothers, Collins and his guitarist friend Ronnie Caryl
formed Hickory who soon found themselves with a concept
album, the backing of Phonogram, and a new name, Flaming
Youth.
Their album Ark II, was premiered at the London
Planetarium and received lots of favourable press, but
musical differences and a lack of commercial success
soon meant it was time to answer another Melody Maker
ad, this time from a struggling young band from Surrey,
called Genesis.
For the next
five years Collins played drums, sang, wrote and
arranged songs, played sessions, and generally helped
Genesis become one of the leading lights in the
Progressive rock field. Such classics as "Supper's
Ready", "Watcher of the Skies", "The Cinema Show" and
"Get 'Em Out by Friday" all bear the trademark Collins
feel. The stunning "Apocalypse in 9/8" section from
"Supper's Ready" is the group at it's creative peak, and
Collins is in there driving it all along. He even had
time to join jazz-fusion rockers Brand X, with whom he
recorded several albums.
In 1980 he played drums on Peter Gabriel's third solo
album and at the singers request left his cymbals at
home. The resulting 'in your face' bombastic drum sound
was put to good use by Collins on his debut solo single
"In The Air Tonight" released in Jan 81, it raced to
no.2 in the UK and achieved a top twenty position in the
USA.
His first solo album, Face Value, sold by the truckload
and was a number one smash, but again rumours about
Genesis splitting up were proved to be wrong. The band
decided on a kind of group album then solo album policy,
which kept both camps happy. The album made Collins an
instant solo star.
In Nov 82 his second album Hello I Must Be Going hit the
number 2 spot.
He won a Grammy for the song "Against all Odds", scored
another hit with "Sussudio" and in Feb 85 he had a
chart-topping album on both sides of the Atlantic with
'No Jacket Required'.
In 1986 Genesis scored another multi-million seller with
'Invisible Touch'. A massive world tour, and a string of
hit singles followed. Collins was one of the biggest
stars around, either with Genesis or on his own.
He starred in the 1988 movie "Buster" and notched up
another US. No. 1 single with "Two Hearts". His next
solo effort was released the following year, "…But
Seriously" was again No.1 everywhere and spawned several
more hits, with "Another Day in Paradise" being the
biggest.
"Both Sides"
from Nov 1993 was very much a solo album with Phil
playing all the instruments and wearing the producer's
hat, it topped the UK charts but peaked at 13 in the US.
Genesis then had their biggest ever album. 'We Can't
Dance' sold over 15 million copies.
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 and he released another
album. "Dance into the Light" had more of a band feel to
it, with the odd Gospel tune thrown in for good measure.
Walt Disney asked him in to compose the songs to their
latest animated feature "Tarzan", the resulting single,
"You'll be in my Heart", was a major US hit and earned
him a prestigious Oscar award. They even threw in
another Grammy and a Golden Globe. He is currently
working on three new Disney projects. |
