Phil Collins fortune

Short introduction

Phil Collins is a British musician who has enjoyed great success both as part of the Genesis pop group and as a solo artist. He sold over 250 million records in his career, making him one of the most successful singers ever, although Phil Collins started his career as a drummer. In the meantime, however, he is also a songwriter, producer and actor. London-born Phil Collins has been living in Miami, USA for some time.

Early life

Born in London in 1951, Phil Collins received his first toy drum kit at the age of five. Later, his uncle built a proper drum kit himself. At the age of five, he also took part in a talent competition for singers. He mentions the Beatles as a major influence, especially the work of their drummer Ringo Starr. However, Phil Collins was also influenced by jazz and radio drummers. At 14, he took professional acting lessons. He had this closeness to acting from his mother, who was active as a theater agent. He has already had several appearances as an extra in more well-known films, such as “A hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles. When he finally became part of the band Genesis at the age of 19 on a newspaper advertisement, his real musical career began.

Career

From 1971 to 1975 he only played the drums on Genesis and sang some backing vocals. With the departure of lead singer Peter Gabriel in 1975, Phil Collins became the lead singer of the band, although he continued to play drums both in the studio and on live performances. Amazingly, Genesis’ first album without Peter Gabriel also became the first success in the United States after it had previously been limited to Great Britain. Another drummer then replaced Phil Collins on the 1976 tour, while he gave the lead singer. 1978 was followed by the somewhat more commercial oriented album “… And Then There Were Three…”, the first top 10 success in Great Britain.

In 1979 all three members of Genesis released their own solo records for the first time. In the case of Phil Collins, it was the album “Face Value”. The record became a No. 1 album in seven different countries, but was only released in 1981. The best-known single from it, “In the Air Tonight”, was probably Phil Collins’ biggest hit in his entire career, although it only hit No. 2 in the UK. The impressive drumming game Collins in this piece has shaped generations of listeners and musicians.

Other Genesis albums followed, as well as Phil Collins solo albums. This processed his separation from his wife in the lyrics and also the music. In the mid-1980s he had greater success with his solo pieces than Genesis himself.

However, it was not until the mid-1990s that Phil Collins broke away from Genesis. Until then, he had other major successes, such as: B. the single “Another Day in Paradise”, one of the best-selling singles in Germany in history.

In the early 1990s, Collins’ commercial success flattened out a bit without losing his status as a pop music superstar. In 2006 there was a reunion of Genesis, where Phil Collins was always active as a solo artist, as he also supported numerous other artists on their records. In 2010 Collins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Genesis, in 2011 he also took a break due to health problems. He has given concerts again in recent years, albeit to a lesser extent than before. However, he gave 97 concerts on a worldwide tour between 2017 and 2019 alone. However, his state of health remains questionable.

Career highlights

The greatest commercial success was his solo album “… But Seriosly”, which was sold 26 million times worldwide and spent several weeks at number 1 on the charts in Great Britain, the USA and Germany. In Germany it was number 1 on the album charts at 53 weeks over a year.

His two biggest hits are “In the Air Tonight” and “Another Day in Paradise”, both of which have long been number 1 on the charts in several countries.

With the band Genesis were the two most successful albums “Genesis” from 1983 and “We Can’t Dance” from 1991, which also reached No. 1 on the charts in many countries. From a commercial point of view, the biggest hits were the two songs “No Son of Mine” and “I Cant ‘Dance”, but they did not match the success of Phil Collins solo songs.

Famous quotes

“My tombstone will say: He came, he wrote ‘In the Air Tonight’, he died.”

“I’m not a singer who plays a bit of drums. I’m a drummer who sings a little bit. ”

“I’m just trying to do things that interest me.”

“When I was growing up, the Beatles sold 1 million singles in a week. Today you only have to sell 10,000 singles and you are in the charts. ”

Amazing facts

Collins is very interested in the Battle of Alamo. He has collected everything imaginable on this subject since his youth and has also published a book on it.

He is also active for many charity organizations, just like he founded his own “Little Dreams Foundation”, which wants to make children’s dreams come true. Organizations supported by Collins include the animal welfare organization PETA and the Topsy Foundation fighting HIV / AIDS in South Africa, to which he surrenders all of his royalties from his music played in South Africa.