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| Birth Name(s) : Phil Collins |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Phil Collins Biography
Philip David Charles Collins (born January 30, 1951 in Chiswick, London) is an English singer, songwriter, drummer, and actor. He is best known as the lead singer and drummer of progressive rock group Genesis and as a Grammy and Academy Award-winning solo artist. He is also an actor, having starred in numerous films.
Collins was given a toy drum kit for Christmas when he was five. Later, his uncle made him a makeshift one that he used regularly, and his drumming skills improved. As Collins grew they were followed by more complete sets bought by his parents. He practised by playing alongside the television and radio, and never learned to read and write conventional musical notation; instead, he uses a system he devised himself.
Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, Unorthodox Behaviour, with Collins as drummer. Since he put greater priority on his career with Genesis, there were several Brand X tours and albums released without Collins. He credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.
The first track from Genesis’ A Trick of the Tail, this was Collins's first appearance as the group's lead singer. A progressive rock track, it contrasts with the style of his later work.
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In 1985, Collins was invited to perform at Live Aid, Bob Geldof's charity concert, at both Wembley Stadium in England, and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia in the U.S. He accomplished this by performing earlier in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then boarding a Concorde to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia. (It is rumored that pop artist Cher was also on the Concorde that day and thought all the pomp and circumstance awaiting Collins upon arrival was for her.) Also around this time, Phil worked with Howard Jones on a single. Howard Jones re-recorded his song "No One Is To Blame", off his Dream into Action album, and it featured Phil Collins as drummer, backing vocalist, and producer. He has also played drums on singles for Robert Plant and Tina Turner on their respective albums. He also produced and played drums on the Eric Clapton album Behind the Sun as well as the follow-up, "August". His solo success, as well as his concurrent career with Genesis, led to a 1985 cover story in Rolling Stone, with the tag reading "Phil Collins Beats the Odds". It has been the only time Collins has been featured on the cover of Rolling Stone.
"Don't Lose My Number"'s B-side, the ballad "We Said Hello Goodbye", was rediscovered in 1987 by some Midwestern radio programmers who began playing it, and it soon became a nationwide radio hit. It would later be included on the No Jacket Required CD.
Such popular satirizing reflected a more widespread criticism of Collins’ work, criticism that began with the success of "Follow You Follow Me" and which continued throughout his career, as Collins continued to define himself as a middle of the road pop musician. Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found his most recent studio album, 2002's Testify, to be the worst-reviewed album by the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases. The album also failed to make much impact on the mainstream charts, although its emotional stand-out track "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. Testify sold only 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed despite poor album sales.Audio samples:
The last of Collins's seven American number one singles, "Another Day in Paradise", was a topical song that discussed the plight of the homeless, and won Collins a Grammy Award for "Record of the Year".
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The majority of Collins's film work has been through music. Four of his seven American number one songs came from film soundtracks, and his work on Disney's Tarzan earned him an Oscar. Collins's acting career has been brief. As a child, he appeared in three films, although two of the films were for brief moments as an extra. Besides the aforementioned A Hard Day's Night (1964), Collins's first lead role was in Calamity the Cow (1967).
Collins wrote and performed the title song to Against All Odds in 1984. The song became the first of his seven American number one songs and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. Collins was famously not invited to perform the song at that year’s presentation, although he was in the audience and had arranged his tour around the telecast. It was believed that the Academy, despite nominating him, did not know who he was. A note to Collins's label from telecast co-producer Larry Gelbart explaining the lack of invitation stated, "Thank you for your note regarding Phil Cooper (emphasis added). I'm afraid the spots have already been filled". Collins instead watched Ann Reinking perform his song. For a long time afterward, he would inform audiences at concerts, "Miss Ann Reinking's not here tonight, so I guess I'll have to sing my own song," before performing "Against All Odds".
Box sets: Genesis Archive 1967-75 | Genesis Archive 2: 1976-1992 | Genesis 1976-1982 | Genesis 1983-1998 | Genesis 1970-1975 |
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