Phil Collins

Philip David Charles Collins was born on 30 January 1951 at Putney Hospital in the present-day Borough of Wandsworth in south-west London, England. His mother, June Winifred Collins, worked in a toy shop and later as a theatrical agent at the Barbara Speake Stage School in East Acton, while his father, Greville Philip Austin Collins, was an insurance agent for London Assurance. Collins is the youngest of three children; his sister Carole competed as a professional ice skater and later became a theatrical agent, and his brother Clive worked as a cartoonist. The family settled at 453 Hanworth Road in the Municipal Borough of Brentford and Chiswick by the time Collins was three years old.

Collins received a toy drum kit at the age of five and developed his playing by performing along to music on television and radio. His uncles constructed a makeshift percussion set from triangles and tambourines, and his parents later purchased more complete kits as he grew older. Early influences included Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, London band the Action's drummer Roger Powell, and jazz and big band drummer Buddy Rich. Collins studied drum rudiments under Lloyd Ryan and later Frank King, and received basic piano and music tuition from a relative of his father's at around age twelve. He attended Nelson Primary School in Twickenham before being accepted into Chiswick County Grammar School in 1962, where he formed a school band called the Real Thing.

Collins quit school at fourteen to become a full-time pupil at Barbara Speake Stage School. He had an uncredited part as an extra among the screaming teenagers in the television concert sequence of the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night in 1964. That same year, he was cast as the Artful Dodger in two West End runs of the musical Oliver!, for which he was paid £15 a week. He was a childhood friend of Jack Wild, who would later become known for playing the same role in the 1968 film adaptation of Oliver!. Collins also formed a group called the Freehold, with whom he wrote his first song, "Lying, Crying, Dying," and played in a group named the Charge.

Collins became the drummer for the rock band Genesis in 1970. Following the departure of lead singer Peter Gabriel in 1975, Collins assumed the role of vocalist while continuing to play drums. During the latter half of the 1970s, between Genesis albums and tours, he also served as drummer for the jazz rock band Brand X. Collins launched a solo career in the 1980s, initially inspired by his marital breakdown and an affinity for soul music. His solo studio albums from the decade include Face Value (1981), Hello, I Must Be Going (1982), No Jacket Required (1985), and ...But Seriously (1989). As a solo artist he achieved three UK number-one singles and seven US number-one singles, among them "In the Air Tonight," "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)," "One More Night," "Sussudio," "Another Day in Paradise," "Two Hearts," and "I Wish It Would Rain Down." Across his work with Genesis, other artists, and his solo output, Collins accumulated more US top-40 singles than any other artist throughout the 1980s.

Collins also resumed acting during this period, appearing in the television series Miami Vice and starring in the film Buster in 1988. In July 1985, he was the only artist to perform at both Live Aid concerts, traveling between the two venues by helicopter and Concorde. He also played drums on the 1984 charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Collins departed Genesis in 1996 to concentrate on solo projects, which included composing and performing songs for Disney's animated feature Tarzan (1999). For that film he wrote and performed "Two Worlds," "Son of Man," "Strangers Like Me," and "You'll Be in My Heart," the last of which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The music Collins created for Tarzan was subsequently adapted for the stage, making him a Broadway composer with that production among his credits.

Collins rejoined Genesis for their Turn It On Again Tour in 2007. Following a five-year retirement focused on family life, he published his memoir in 2016 and conducted the Not Dead Yet Tour from 2017 to 2019. He then reunited with Genesis again in 2020 for a final tour that ran from 2021 to 2022. His eight solo studio albums have sold 33.5 million certified units in the United States, with an estimated 150 million records sold worldwide. He is one of only three recording artists, alongside Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, to have sold over 100 million records both as a solo artist and as a principal member of a band. Among his honors are eight Grammy Awards, six Brit Awards including three wins for Best British Male Artist, two Golden Globe Awards, one Academy Award, a Disney Legend Award, and six Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, including the International Achievement Award. Collins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. He was ranked number 43 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time and inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013.