British musician Phil Collins is one of the most decorated musicians in history and one of the best-selling artists in the world. He has won eight Grammy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, six Brit Awards, six Ivor Novello Awards, and even a
Disney Legend award. On top of all that, he even won an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Genesis band member in 2010. Also, he was inducted in 2003 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He’s one of only three recording artists who has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, both as principal members of a band and as solo artists. The other two are Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.
Interestingly, he began his career in the entertainment industry as a child actor and didn’t pursue singing until Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel left the band, and Phil took over the role of the lead singer. Prior to that, Collins was the band’s drummer and had a reputation for being one of the most legendary drummers of all time. He was given a toy drum kit when he was five years old, and his uncle later made him a more grown-up one. When he was five years old, he entered a talent contest singing Davy Crockett. However, he stopped the orchestra halfway through the song to tell them they were not in the correct key, says
one of his teachers. Ironically, he never learned to read and write music properly, instead just focusing on the music and relying on a system he himself devised. He says that he later regretted this.
Phil Collins is nowhere near retiring. He did his “First Final Farewell Tour” in 2003. The title of the tour was a tongue-in-cheek reference to artists who do one farewell tour after another, and he was acknowledging that he would probably eventually come back, too. He took off for five years to focus on his family life, but in 2016 he released an autobiography, and in 2019, he completed a 97-date “Not Dead Yet Tour.”
Watch below as Phil Collins sings “In the Air Tonight” for his “First Final Farewell Tour.”
