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Philip David Charles Collins was born in Chiswick, London ENGLAND, on
January 30th 1951, he taught himself to play drums at the tender age of
12. Collins attended stage school in his youth and formed a band called
The Real Thing, but it was in 1970 that Phil Collins landed the position
of drummer in the phenomenal band called Genesis, at that time fronted
by Peter Gabriel; he even had time to join the Jazz-Rock act Brand X,
with whom he recorded several albums.
In 1974 Gabriel left Genesis, Collins came out from behind the drumstool
and took over the vocal duties.
In early 1981 Phil Collins released his debut solo single, "In The
Air Tonight", which peaked at #2 in U.K. chart and in the U.S. reached
the #19 and #2 respectively on Pop Singles and Mainstream Rock charts;
his first album, "Face Value", followed shortly thereafter reaching
the top spot of the Official U.K. chart and the #7 in the U.S. Top 200
LPs & Tapes chart while the second single, "I Missed Again",
debuted at #9 on The Mainstream Rock list and reached the #19 on the Pop
Singles chart.
Following "Face Value"'s extraordinary success rumours about
Genesis splitting up were proved to be wrong, the band decided on a kind
of group album then solo album policy, which kept both camps happy.
The second Collins' solo album, "Hello, I Must Be Going", which
was issued in November 1982, shot to #2 in U.K. and peaked at #8 in U.S.
Pop Albums charts, it included the cover version of the Supremes "You
Can't Hurry Love" which was another transatlantic smash peaking at
#1 in Britain and at #10 in the States; the follow-up single, "I
Don't Care Anymore", hit #3 on The Mainstream Rock chart and "Like
China" made top 20 in the same chart; the infectious "I Cannot
Believe It's True" was another American Pop Singles chart entry.
During 1984 the British singer contributed the song "Against All
Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" to the soundtrack of the movie with
the same title, this single climbed to the top of The Billboard Hot 100
and was awarded a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
In early 1985 he was once again in the top 3 of the U.S. Hot 100 duetting
with Philip Bailey on "Easy Lover", the track also reached the
#5 on The Mainstream Rock chart and rose to #1 in the National U.K. Pop
chart.
His third album, "No Jacket Required", was issued on February,
that same year, it went straight to #1 on The Billboard Top 200 list spawning
two Billboard Hot 100 #1s chart entry: the slow ballad "One More
Night" and the dance-oriented "Sussudio", both the tracks
entered the top 10 of The Mainstream Rock chart; the album also generated
The Billboard Hot 100 top 5 hit "Don't Lose My Number", the
top 10 "Take Me Home" and the final single, "Inside Out",
hit #9 on The Mainstream Rock chart.
On Saturday July 13, 1985 for the Live Aid concerts, Collins played a
set at Wembley Stadium in London, at 4pm he jumped on the Concorde and
flew to Philadelphia to join the U.S. leg of Live Aid, all on the same
day.
In September he had one further U.S. #1 with the love theme from "White
Nights", "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin.
On 25 February 1986, "No Jacket Required" was named Album Of
The Year at the 28th annual Grammy Awards, that night Phil Collins picked
up a second Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
After the multi-million seller Genesis album "Invisible Touch",
he starred in the 1988 movie "Buster", the soundtrack included
two hit singles, the cover version of Patti LaBelle's "A Groovy Kind
Of Love" which topped both the U.K. and the U.S. Official Pop charts
and "Two Hearts" which shot to #1 on The Billboard Hot 100 and
won him a Grammy for Best Song Written Specifically For A Film.
In November 1989 Collins released his fourth solo effort, "...But
Seriously", it was an instant smash hitting #1 on both sides of the
Atlantic lead by the single "Another Day In Paradise" which
smashed at #1 on The Billboard Hot 100, rose to #7 on The Mainstream Rock
Tracks and was awarded a Grammy for Record Of The Year; "But Seriously"
spun off a total of four Billboard's Hot 100 top 10 hits as "I Wish
It Would Rain Down" rose to #3, "Do You Remember?" to #4
and "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven" also hit the #4
spot.
During 1990, he compiled the live set, "Serious Hits...Live"
which collected 15 tracks taken from a number of shows during his Serious
Tour, it reached the #11 on The Billboard Top 200 Albums list.
Collins returned with his next studio album three years later, in November
1993; on "Both Sides" he played all the instruments, the record
topped the British chart and peaked at 13 in the U.S. spawning a couple
of American Top 40 hits: "Both Sides Of The Story" and "Everyday".
Genesis then had their biggest ever album, "We Can't Dance"
sold over 15 million copies, but in spring of 1996 Phil Collins stunned
many fans by announcing his departure from the band, after 26 years; that
same year he released his sixth solo album, "Dance Into The Light",
its sales were noticeably weaker than its predecessor and the record failed
to enter the top 20 of The American Billboard 200 chart; although both
the main singles off of the CD, the title-track and "It's In Your
Eyes", never cracked the top 40 of The Billboard Hot 100, received
massive airplay on Adult Contemporary stations.
In October 1998 was released the retrospective compilation, "Hits",
which peaked at #1 in Britain and reached the #18 in the States, the set
featured the cover of Cyndi Lauper's
"True Colors", the track charted at #2 on Billboard's Adult
Contemporary list.
The following year Walt Disney asked him to compose the songs to their
latest animated feature "Tarzan", the resulting single, "You'll
Be In My Heart" rose to the #21 spot on The Billboard Hot 100 and
earned him a prestigious Oscar award.
By late 2002 Phil Collins returned with a new album, "Testify",
the record includes two Adult Contemporary top 10 hits, including the
#1 "Can't Stop Loving You" and "Through My Eyes".
Phil Collins biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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