Phil Collins - This Phil Collins fan site provides information about Phil Collins, his career with genesis and his solo career. You can find information including a discography, a history of Genesis and biographies for both Genesis and Phil Collins himself. Any questions you may have, comments or additions you would like to see on this page that you feel may be helpful to visitors, please feel free to email me. Thanks for visiting and please sign my guestbook before you leave!

About Phil Collins:

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 #2 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. Long before any of that happened, however, Collins was a child actor/singer who appeared as "the Artful Dodger" in the London production of Oliver! in 1964. (He also has a cameo in A Hard Day's Night, among other films.) He got his first break in music at the end of his teens, when he was chosen to be a replacement drummer in the British art-rock band Genesis in 1970. (Collins maintained a separate jazz career with the band Brand X, as well.) Genesis was fronted by singer Peter Gabriel. They had achieved a moderate level of success in the U.K. and the U.S., with elaborate concept albums, before Gabriel abruptly left in 1974. Genesis auditioned 400 singers without success, then decided to let Phil Collins have a go. The result was a gradual simplifying of Genesis' sound and an increasing focus on Collins's expressive, throaty voice. "And Then There Were Three" ... went gold in 1978, and Duke was even more successful.

Collins made his debut solo album Face Value in 1981, which turned out to be a bigger hit than any Genesis album. It concentrated on Collins. Phil Collins' voice, often in stark, haunting contexts such as the piano-and-drum dirge "In the Air Tonight" which sounded like something from John Lennon's debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

During the '80s, Phil Collins balanced his continuing solo work with Genesis with enormous success. In 1992, Genesis released "We Can't Dance" and began an extensive tour. Upon its completion, Collins released Both Sides in 1993, and the record became his first album not to produce a major hit single or go multi-platinum. In 1995, he announced that he was leaving Genesis permanently.

The following year, he released Dance into the Light. Although the album was a flop, its subsequent supporting tour was a success. The Hits collection followed in 1998, and a year later Phil Collins made his first big band record, Hot Night in Paris.

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 also working on three new Disney projects which included the soundtrack for the movie "Brother Bear" that was released October 21, 2003.

With his album - titled "Testify", a smash hit ("Can't Stop Loving You") to add to his collection, and a continued interest in all aspects of his past, Phil Collins has proved that there is no substitute for talent. Not bad for an Artful Dodger from Chiswick. Phil was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in June 2003 at the 34th Annual Award and Induction Ceremony in New York City. Phil Collins has also recently completed a 2004 world tour which was called the 'First Final Farewell Tour'. The tour included dates in Europe and the United States. In 2005 he will be touring in Europe and Asia. Phil has also vowed that "there'll be no "going back" over old ground... at least unless there's a special reason." For more details about the 2005 First Final Farewell Tour, click here.

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