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Phil Collins

Phil Collins10 posts

Phil Collins is an english drummer, songwriter, singer and actor born in 1951 in Chiswick, London. In 1970 he joined the English progressive rock band Genesis as their drummer, and occasional vocalist. After the departure of Peter Gabriel in 1975, Collins became the lead singer. By the early 1980s the band achieved major success with a more commercial sound. With the release of his solo album, Face Value, Collins became an international star in his own right. After numerous solo albums, and film work, he left Genesis in 1996. He returned to the band for 2007’s Turn it on Again tour. He is currently planning a comeback album and tour.

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28 Oct, 2015

Announces comeback

Interview0 Comments

Collins talks to Rolling Stone about starting to work again.

I’m no longer officially retired. The horse is out of the stable and I’m raring to go…My kids are now 10 and 14 and they want to see what their dad does. They were in nappies when I was last on the road. They love my music and I’d like to take them out so they can enjoy it.

He also talks about his wife leaving him in 2008:

It left me with a lot of time on my hands to think about what happened. I went through a few bits of darkness; drinking too much. I killed my hours watching TV and drinking, and it almost killed me. But I haven’t had a drink in three years.

And his recent surgery:

I had an MRI and my back and hips were just shot. The doctor had to go in there, work on the sciatic nerve and take my back apart and unscramble the mess…After this surgery, though, the doctor said to me that my vital signs were all there. He said to me, ‘If you want to play drums again, all you have to do is practice.

He also says he doesn’t understand fans who want to see the early Genesis lineup reform.

I just don’t understand that. They haven’t thought it through. Pete won’t sing Invisible Touch‘ or I Can’t Dance. We’d only do material like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Also, I can’t play drums, so I can’t do what I did. I just want to settle with the bits of me that I can possibly do.

12 Oct, 2015

Announces 2016 autobiography

Announcement0 Comments

Collins announces that he will release an autobiography in October 2016.

Several times over the last few years I have been asked to write a biography but never felt that the time was right – until now. Having found the right publisher in Penguin Random House, I am ready to go on record about my life in music with all the highs and all the lows and to tell the story from my point of view, warts and all!

17 Jun, 2015

Buys $33 million Miami mansion

Home purchase/sale0 Comments

Phil Collins Miami homeCollins purchases a 12,000 square feet mansion on a 1.21-acre lot on Biscayne Bay, Miami, for $33 million, from private equity firm owner Mark Gainor who paid $13.9million for the property in 2005. The house was previously owned by Jennifer Lopez. It has seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a koi fish pond, an outdoor kitchen, boat dock, and a large swimming pool. Agent:

He was really looking for a big piece of land.

21 May, 2014

Performs at kids middle school

Music Performance0 Comments

Collins returns to the stage for the first time in four years, performing In the Air Tonight and Land of Confusion with a band of middle school kids, at his son’s school concert in Miami. Collins ex-wife Mejjati tells the Miami Herald that Collins agreed to perform because his son asked him to.

I was nervous you know, I’ve been doing this all my life but how good can it be? How good can it be tonight? All of these kids came up to me yesterday and were very pleasant and nice and polite and made me feel like part of the band.

Phil Collins Secret Concert in Miami Country Day School

20 Feb, 1991

Wins Grammy

Grammy0 Comments

Collins wins the Grammy for Record Of The Year for Another Day In Paradise.

25 Feb, 1986

Wins Grammy

Grammy0 Comments

imagesCollins wins the Grammy for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male for No Jacket Required, and Producer Of The Year (Non-Classical)

26 Feb, 1985

Wins Grammy

Grammy0 Comments

Collins wins the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male for Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now).

20 Feb, 1976

Trick of the Tail

Music VideoSingle Release0 Comments

The band release the single Trick of the Tail, their first single featuring Collins, and the first to have an accompanying video. Banks wrote the majority of the song in 1972 and it was originally intended for Foxtrot. The lyrics are inspired by the book The Inheritors by William Golding. The video features the band playing around a piano, and appearing in miniature inside the piano. Collins:

Trick of the Tail is probably the most embarrassing video I have ever been in. It was a very small me running up and down a piano. You know when you look back and think, ‘Who told me to do that? whose lapse of taste was that? Was it mine?’ I think it was a mixture of me and the director…and the other guys. Everyone must be blamed.

Genesis - a trick of the tail.

12 Nov, 1971

Nursery Cryme

Album Release0 Comments

NurseryCryme Genesis Cover 1971The band release their third studio album, Nursery Cryme. The album includes The Musical Box, The Fountain of Salmacis, and Return of The Giant Hogweed. This is the first album with Collins and Hackett. Gabriel sings all songs except For Absent Friends, which is written by Hackett, and sung by Collins. The album is produced by John Anthony and engineered by David Hentschel. The sleeve is designed by Anthony Whitehead, based on the characters in the songs. Banks:

Nursery Cryme was the album that incorporated Phil and Steve into the band, so we became, for that reason, a better playing unit than we’d benn in the past. And we’d also by this time, played quite a liot on stage, so the development from Trespass was quite a big one. And we had the Mellotron was a new instrument, and a certain quality of the early-Genesis sound was started with this album.

Hackett:

I was thrilled with it. The rough edges at that time I refused to hear. I just wanted to bask in the glory. I’d done an album with what was destined to become a great band, and occasionally the sound was wonderful.

Collins:

It was a real great five-piece working uni. We all got together for the meetings for the cover, we were there all the time for the mixing. Pretty much we were all involved in the writing, apart from the lyrics. Certain songs would have pairs going off to write lyrics. I have very fond memories of the period.

Gabriel:

A step into the shade, if you like.  There’s more sunshining in Trespass, more folky feels, and outside stuff. And we’d gone indoors in Nursery Cryme.

Rutherford:

It’s a good example of how we were moving on…I like the cover Quite a strong image of the girl and the croquet lawn., and the head. We were starting to create an atmosphere about the band. Slightly quirky. I felt we were starting to become something that was a little bit unique in the music business.