He is a drummer and singer-songwriter born Philip David
Charles Collins in Chiswick, London.He started playing drums from the age
of five when he was given a set for Christmas and as he got older and more
proficient he received more and more to make up a larger set.He went to the BarbaraSpeakStageSchool
from the age of 14, starting his career as an actor and a model.He won the role of The Artful Dodger
in Oliver in a London production as
well as appearing as an extra in the crowd scene in The
Beatles'A Hard Da'ys
Night.He formed a band
called The Real Thing and then joined the group Freehold when he wrote his
first song "Lying, Crying, Dying".He joined Flaming Youth for his
first record deal but the band dissolved after a year.In 1970 he answered an advert in the
magazine Melody Maker for a drummer for the band Genesis
.He had
his audition at Peter
Gabriel's parents' house
and was hired.He remained their drummer and back-up vocalist for 5 years
before Peter
Gabriel
left the band and, after much thought, he was given the role of
lead vocals, although he still drummed in instrumentals.In 1975 he was a member of the band
Brand X.He co-wrote many of Genesis'
songs with Mike
Rutherford and Tony
Banks
.He conducted his solo career
alongside working with Genesis
in the 1980s and released his first album Face Value in 1981 which he followed
with Hello, I Must Be Going.During this time he also appeared as
an actor in TV and film including an episode of Miami Vice and the movie Buster
which gave him the No.1 hit "Groovy Kind of Love".He finally left the band in 1996 to
concentrate on his successful solo career.He has
worked with many artists including Frida
(Anna-Frid from ABBA), Phil
Bailey, Sting, Howard Jones, Peter
Gabriel
, Robert Plant, Tina Turner and Eric Clapton.In the Live Aid concert of 1985 he
managed to be a featured artist in Wembley
Stadium in London and JFK
Stadium in Philadelphia by way
of a Concorde flight between the two cities.In 1996
he formed the Phil Collins Big Band with the band performing jazz
renditions of Genesis'
and his
own recordings.He has
been married three times and has three children.He is a supporter of animal rights
and the organization PETA (People for the Ethical Rights of Animals). He
has won an Academy Award for the song "You'll Be in My
Heart" from Tarzan and a
Grammy for the album No Jacket
Required and Atlantic Records have said that as of 2002 he had sold
over 100 million albums.
