Happy 75th birthday to the legendary Phil Collins! From his iconic singing and drumming with the rock group Genesis to his incredible solo career, Phil has given us timeless hits such as In the Air Tonight (1981), You can’t hurry love (1982) and Another Day in Paradise (1989). His music has touched millions of people and continues to inspire new generations.

Phil Collins was born in 1951 in London. As a child, he was strongly drawn to the stage and his mother encouraged his interest in acting and music and at the age of five he received his first drum set. As a teenager, he went to drama school and appeared in the musical Oliver! and it was the music that was the most fun. His upbringing was characterized by both discipline and creative freedom and that combination shaped Collins into the extremely driven and emotionally driven artist he later became. Much of his musical expression has its roots in his childhood’s strong feelings of both need for affirmation and loneliness, something that would become a recurring theme in his songs.

Phil Collins’ private life has been at least as dramatic as his music. He has been married three times, first to Andrea Bertorelli, whom he met as a teenager. He then married Jill Tavelman and finally to Orianne Cevey in a high-profile marriage filled with both passion and conflict. Together, they have five children, including Lily Collins, who has become an internationally renowned actress. The relationships, separations and his role as a father have had a profound influence on his songwriting and many of his biggest hits are directly inspired by his love life and family situation. For Collins, the private has never been separate from the creative; on the contrary, his heartbreak and life choices have become fuel for some of the most emotionally charged songs in pop history.

Phil started as a drummer in the successful group Genesis in 1970 and after a few years became the group’s singer. During Collins’ time as a singer, the style evolved from progressive rock to more pop.

With the album Face Value he made his solo debut in 1981 and it contained the song In the Air Tonight which became an international hit single.

Collins has also written his own songs and in 1999 he was commissioned to do the music for the film Tarzan and the song You’ll Be in My Heart won an Oscar for Best Song. When Disney made the film Brothers Björn, Collins was again commissioned to do the film music with songs such as On My Way and Look Through My Eyes.

In October 2016, Phil Collins published the autobiographical book Not Dead Yet. The same year, Collins confirmed at a press conference that he was planning concerts in London, Paris and Cologne in June 2017. These were Collins’ first concerts in ten years and thus his official comeback. In 2022, he gave his last concert in London after several years of neck problems and tinnitus, ending his career.

Hit songs:

1981 – In the Air Tonight

1982 – You Can’t Hurry Love

1984 – Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)

1984 – Easy Lover

1985 – One More Night

1985 – Sussudio

1985 – Separate Lives (med Marilyn Martin)

1988 – A Groovy Kind of Love

1988 – Two Hearts

1989 – Another Day in Paradise

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