Phil Collins

Philip David Charles Collins was born on 30 January 1951 in West London. He is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, record producer and actor, best known as the drummer and later lead vocalist of Genesis and for his highly successful solo career.

He began playing drums as a child and, as a child actor, played the Artful Dodger in the West End production of Oliver!. He joined Genesis as drummer in 1970; after Peter Gabriel left in 1975 he took over lead vocals and led the band from progressive rock toward pop rock. He left in 1996 to focus on solo work and returned for reunion tours in 2007 and 2021–2022. He was also the drummer of the jazz fusion band Brand X and formed the Phil Collins Big Band in 1996.

His solo albums include Face Value (1981), Hello, I Must Be Going! (1982), No Jacket Required (1985) and ...But Seriously (1989), with hit singles such as "In the Air Tonight", "Sussudio" and "Another Day in Paradise". Between 1982 and 1990 he had three UK and seven US number-one singles as a solo artist, and his "gated reverb" drum sound became a hallmark of 1980s production. He has sold over 100 million albums with Genesis and as a solo artist, and in 2016 he published a memoir and completed the Not Dead Yet Tour.