Phil Collins is a musician, songwriter, actor, and instrumentalist. Basically, by playing drums for Genesis, and then as solo artist. His net worth is $260 million. Philip David Charles Collins was born on January 30th, 1951 in Hounslow, Middlesex, England. His father Greville Collins was insurance agent, while his mother Winifred was a theatrical manager.
When his parents gave him a toy drums for Christmas, they never thought that he would have such an important interest in music. Phil was then five years old, and this would be the first of the many toys the Collins would buy from his son. He learned to play alongside television and radio and, as no one taught him to read and write in conventional musical notation, he designed his own system.
Professional development
His professional training began at the age of 14, when he entered the Barbara Speake Stage School. He began working as an actor and model, earning his first major role as Artful Dodger in the production Oliver!
He would also participate in The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, and in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Collins would also be among the three finalists for the “IQ” role on the US television show The Bugaloos (which he lost to fellow actor and musician John McIndoe).
Despite the beginning his career as actor, Collins began to turn towards music gradually. While attending Chiswick Community College, he formed a band called The Real Thing, and he later joined The Freehold. With this last group wrote his first song called “Lying Crying Dying”.
Genesis
In 1970, Collins answered to an ad in the Melody Maker magazine where he was looking for “an acoustic-sensitive drummer, and a twelve-string acoustic guitarist.” The audition took place at Peter Gabriel’s parents, and consisted of playing some tracks from the group’s second album, Trespass (1970). As Collins arrived early, he could memorize the pieces by listening to the others. A year later the group would release their third album, Nursery Cryme, where Phil Collins would take charge of drums, percussion and choirs (lead vocals on “For Absent Friends”), and would continue to do so in the next five years, through classic group LPs such as Foxtrot (1972), or Selling England by the Pound (1973).
In 1975, after the final tour of the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the group to pursue his projects alone. Collins became the lead vocal after a long but ultimately fruitless quest for Gabriel’s replacement (where Collins took care of the second voice, along with each of the more than 400 aspirants who attended the audition).
80s: solo career and with Genesis
In the eighties, while Collins developed his career with Genesis, he established a parallel as a soloist. With the group Genesis recorded a series of successful albums between 1980 and 1986, including Duke, Abacab, Genesis and Invisible Touch.
