For the early "drum machine" computers that used a rotating cylinder as their main memory, see drum memory

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A Yamaha RY30 Drum Machine

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music. They are also a common necessity when session drummers are not available or desired.

Most modern drum machines are sequencers with a sample playback (rompler) or synthesizer component that specializes in the reproduction of drum timbres. Though features vary from model to model, many modern drum machines can also produce unique sounds, and allow the user to compose unique drum beats.

History[link]

Early drum machines[link]

Rhythmicon (1932) and Joseph Schillinger, a music educator

Rhythmicon (1930–32)

In 1930–32, the spectacularly innovative and hard to use Rhythmicon was realized by Leon Theremin at the request of Henry Cowell, who wanted an instrument with which to play compositions whose multiple rhythmic patterns, based on the overtone series, were far too hard to perform on existing keyboard instruments. The invention could produce sixteen different rhythms, each associated with a particular pitch, either individually or in any combination, including en masse, if desired. Received with considerable interest when it was publicly introduced in 1932, the Rhythmicon was soon set aside by Cowell and was virtually forgotten for decades. The next generation of rhythm machines played only preprogrammed rhythms such as mambo, tango, or the like. They also have other patterns like bossa nova

Chamberlin Rhythmate (1957)

In 1957 Californian Harry Chamberlin constructed a tape loop based drum machine called the Chamberlin Rhythmate. It had 14 tape loops with a sliding head that allowed playback of different tracks on each piece of tape, or a blending between them. It contained a volume and a pitch/speed control and also had a separate amplifier with bass, treble, and volume controls, and an input jack for a guitar, microphone or other instrument. The tape loops were of real acoustic jazz drum kits playing different style beats, with some additions to tracks such as bongos, clave, castanets, etc.

Raymond Scott's machines (1960/1963)

In 1960 Raymond Scott constructed the Rhythm Synthesizer and, in 1963, a drum machine called Bandito the Bongo Artist. Scott's machines were used for recording his infamous "Soothing Sounds for Baby" series (1964).

First commercial product - Wurlitzer Sideman (1959)

Wurlitzer Sideman (inner view, 1959)

In 1959 Wurlitzer released an electro-mechanical drum machine called the Sideman, which was the first ever commercially-produced drum machine. The Sideman was intended as a percussive accompaniment for the Wurlitzer organ range. The Sideman offered a choice of 12 electronically generated, predefined rhythm patterns with variable tempos. The sound source was a series of vacuum tubes which created 10 preset electronic drum sounds. The drum sounds were 'sequenced' by a rotating disc with metal contacts across its face, spaced in a certain pattern to generate parts of a particular rhythm. Combinations of these different sets of rhythms and drum sounds created popular rhythmic patterns of the day, e.g. waltzes, fox trots etc. These combinations were selected by a rotary knob on the top of the Sideman box. The tempo of the patterns was controlled by a slider that increased the speed of rotation of the disc. The Sideman had a panel of 10 buttons for manually triggering drum sounds, and a remote player to control the machine while playing from an organ keyboard. The Sideman was housed in a wooden cabinet that contained the sound generating circuitry, amplifier and speaker.^[1]

First fully transistorized drum machines - Seeburg/Gulbransen (1964)

Seeburg/Gulbransen Rhythm Prince
using mechanical wheel, as seen on bailed out left panel

Seeburg/Gulbransen Select-A-Rhythm,
an earliest fully transistorized rhythm machine

During the 1960s, implementation of rhythm machines were evolved into fully solid-state (transistorized) from early electro-mechanical with vacuum tubes, and also size were reduced to desktop size from earlier floor type. In the early 1960s, a home organ manufacturer, Gulbransen (later acquired by Fender) cooperated with an automatic musical equipments manufacturer Seeburg Corporation, and released early compact rhythm machines Rhythm Prince (PRP),^[2] although, at that time, these size were still as large as small guitar amp head, due to the use of bulky electro-mechanical pattern generators. Then in 1964, Seeburg invented compact electronic rhythm pattern generator using diode matrix (patented in 1967),^[3] and fully transistorized electronic rhythm machine with pre-programmed patterns, Select-A-Rhythm (SAR1),^[4][5] was released. As the result of its robustness and enough compact size, these rhythm machines (and also similar products by followers^[6]) were gradually installed on the electronic organ as accompaniment of organists, and finally spread widely.

Emergence of subsequent group:   Ace Tone (1967)

In 1964, also Ace Electronics (later Ace Tone; the founder Ikutaro Kakehashi also founded Roland Corporation at the later) developed a prototype of hand-operated electronic percussion instrument without preset-pattern, called "R1 Rhythm Ace". It was exhibited on Summer NAMM 1964, however not commercialized.^[7] The Ace Tone later developed the preset rhythm-pattern generator using diode matrix circuit similar to the prior patent by Seeburg^[3], and commercialized their first preset rhythm machine called "FR-1 Rhythm Ace" in 1967. It offered 16 preset patterns, and four buttons to manually play each instrument sound (cymbal, claves, cowbell and bass drum). Also the rhythm patterns could be cascaded together by pushing multiple rhythm buttons simultaneously, and the possible combination of rhythm patterns were more than a hundred. (On the later models of Rhythm Ace, also the individual volumes of each instrument could be adjusted with the small knobs or faders) The FR-1 was adopted by the Hammond Organ Company for incorporation within their latest organ models. In the US, the units were also marketed under the Multivox brand by Peter Sorkin Music Company, and in the UK, marketed under the Bentley Rhythm Ace brand. The Bentley-branded Rhythm Ace presumably gave rise to the 1997 Birmingham band Bentley Rhythm Ace. The unique artificial sounds characteristics of the FR-1 were similar to the later Roland rhythm machines, and featured on the electronic pop music from the late 1970s onwards.^[7]

Early preset drum machine's users

A number of other preset drum machines were released in the 1970s. The first major pop song to use a drum machine was "Saved by the Bell" by Robin Gibb, which reached #2 in Britain in 1969. Drum machine tracks were also heavily used on the Sly & the Family Stone album There's a Riot Goin' On, released in 1971. The German krautrock band Can also used a drum machine on their album Tago Mago (1971), especially in the song "Peking O". The 1972 Timmy Thomas single "Why Can't We Live Together"/"Funky Me" featured a distinctive use of a drum machine and keyboard arrangement on both tracks. The first album on which a drum machine produced all the percussion was Kingdom Come's Journey, recorded in November 1972 using a Bentley Rhythm Ace. French singer-songwriter Léo Ferré mixed a drum machine with a symphonic orchestra in the song "Je t'aimais bien, tu sais..." in his album L'Espoir, released in 1974. Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album Benzaiten (1974) also utilized drum machines, and one of the album's contributors, Haruomi Hosono,^[8] would later start the electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (as "Yellow Magic Band") in 1977.^[9]

Drum sound synthesis[link]

A key difference between such early machines and more modern equipment is that they use sound synthesis rather than digital sampling in order to generate their sounds. For example, a snare drum or maraca sound would typically be created using a burst of white noise whereas a bass drum sound would be made using sine waves or other basic waveforms. This meant that while the resulting sound was not very close to that of the real instrument, each model tended to have a unique character. For this reason, many of these early machines have achieved a certain "cult status" and are now sought after by producers for use in production of modern electronic music, most notably the Roland TR-808.^[10]

Programmable drum machines[link]

Eko ComputeRhythm (1972),
One of the first programmable drum machine

In 1972, Eko released ComputeRhythm (1972), which was the first programmable drum machine as far as known; it had a 6 row push-button matrix that allowed you to enter a pattern manually, or you could push punch cards with pre-programmed rhythms through a reader slot on the unit.^[11] In 1975, Ace Tone released its successor to the Rhythm Ace series, the Rhythm Producer FR-15, which provided the feature to modify the pre-programmed rhythms.^[12] Another stand-alone drum machine, the PAiA Programmable Drum Set released in 1975, was also one of the first programmable drum machines,^[13] and was sold as a kit with parts and instructions which the buyer would use to build the machine.

In 1978, the Roland CR-78 drum machine was released. It was a programmable rhythm machine, and had four memory locations which allowed users to store their own patterns. The following year, Roland offered a more simple version, the Boss DR-55. It had only four sounds, and its memory is not enough to compose a song (up to 16 rhythms), but it is a programmable drum machine for under $200.

Digital sampling[link]

Linn LM-1 (1980)

The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer (released in 1980, and expensive at $4,995) was the first drum machine to use digital samples. Only about 500 were ever made, but the list of those who owned them was impressive. Its distinctive sound almost defines 1980s pop, and it can be heard on hundreds of hit records from the era, including The Human League's Dare, Gary Numan's Dance, Devo's "New Traditionalists", and Ric Ocasek's Beatitude. Prince bought one of the very first LM-1s and used it on nearly all of his most popular recordings, including 1999 and Purple Rain.

Many of the drum sounds on the LM-1 were composed of two chips that were triggered at the same time, and each voice was individually tunable with individual outputs. Due to memory limitations, a crash cymbal sound was not available except as an expensive third-party modification. A cheaper version of the LM-1 was released in 1982 called the LinnDrum. It cost $2,995 and not all of its voices were tunable, making it less desirable than the original LM-1. The Linndrum included a crash cymbal sound as standard and, like its predecessor the LM-1, featured swappable sound chips. The LinnDrum can be heard on records such as The Cars' Heartbeat City and Giorgio Moroder's soundtrack for the film Scarface.

It was feared the LM-1 would put every session drummer in Los Angeles out of work and it caused many of L.A's top session drummers (Jeff Porcaro is one example) to purchase their own drum machines and learn to program them themselves in order to stay employed.

Oberheim DMX (1981)

SCI drumtracks (1984)

Following the success of the LM-1, Oberheim introduced the DMX, which also featured digitally-sampled sounds and a "swing" feature similar to the one found on the Linn machines. It became very popular in its own right, becoming a staple of the nascent hip-hop scene.

Other manufacturers soon began to produce machines, e.g. the Sequential Circuits Drum-Traks and Tom, the E-mu Drumulator and the Yamaha RX11.

The 1986 SpecDrum by Cheetah Marketing made drum machines inexpensive by offering a drum machine for £30 when similar models cost around £250.^[14]

Roland TR-808 and TR-909 machines[link]

Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer (1980)

The famous Roland TR-808, a programmable drum machine, was also launched in 1980. At the time it was received with little fanfare, as it did not have digitally sampled sounds; drum machines using digital samples were much more popular. In time, though, the TR-808, along with its successor, the TR-909 (released in 1983), would become a fixture of the burgeoning underground dance, electro, house, techno, R&B and hip-hop genres, mainly because of its low cost (relative to that of the Linn machines) and the unique character of its analogue-generated sounds, which included five unique percussion sounds: “the hum kick, the ticky snare, the tishy hi-hats (open and closed) and the spacey cowbell.” It was first utilized by Yellow Magic Orchestra in the year of its release, after which it would gain further popularity with Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" and Afrikaa Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" in 1982.^[10]

In a somewhat ironic twist it is the analogue-based Roland machines that have endured over time as the Linn sound became somewhat overused and dated by the end of the decade. The TR-808 and TR-909's beats have since been widely featured in pop music, and can be heard on countless recordings up to the present day.^[10] Because of its bass and long decay, the kick drum from the TR-808 has also featured as a bass line in various genres such as hip hop and drum and bass. Since the mid-1980s, the TR-808 and TR-909 have been used on more hit records than any other drum machine,^[15] and has thus attained an iconic status within the music industry.^[10]

MIDI breakthrough[link]

E-mu SP-1200 (1985)

Because these early drum machines came out before the introduction of MIDI in 1983, they use a variety of methods of having their rhythms synchronized to other electronic devices. Some used a method of synchronization called DIN-sync, or Sync-24. Some of these machines also output analog CV/Gate voltages that could be used to synchronize or control analog synthesizers and other music equipment. The Oberheim DMX came with a feature allowing it to be synchronized to its proprietary Oberheim Parallel Buss interfacing system, developed prior to the introduction of MIDI.

Alesis SR-16 (1991)

By the year 2000, standalone drum machines became much less common, being partly supplanted by general-purpose hardware samplers controlled by sequencers (built-in or external), software-based sequencing and sampling and the use of loops, and music workstations with integrated sequencing and drum sounds. TR-808 and other digitized drum machine sounds can be found in archives on the Internet. However, traditional drum machines are still being made by companies such as Roland Corporation (under the name Boss), Zoom, Korg and Alesis, whose SR-16 drum machine has remained popular since it was introduced in 1991.

There are percussion-specific sound modules that can be triggered by pickups, trigger pads, or through MIDI. These are called drum modules; the Alesis D4 and Roland TD-8 are popular examples. Unless such a sound module also features a sequencer, it is, strictly speaking, not a drum machine.

Programming[link]

Programming of drum machines are varied by the products. On most products, it can be done in real time: the user creates drum patterns by pressing the trigger pads as though a drum kit were being played; or using step-sequencing: the pattern is built up over time by adding individual sounds at certain points by placing them, as with the TR-808 and TR-909, along a 16-step bar. For example, a generic 4-on-the-floor dance pattern could be made by placing a closed high hat on the 3rd, 7th, 11th, and 15th steps, then a kick drum on the 1st, 5th, 9th, and 13th steps, and a clap or snare on the 5th and 13th. This pattern could be varied in a multitude of ways to obtain fills, break-downs and other elements that the programmer sees fit, which in turn could be sequenced with song-sequence — essentially the drum machine plays back the programmed patterns from memory in an order the programmer has chosen. The machine will quantize entries that are slightly off-beat in order to make them exactly in time.

If the drum machine has MIDI connectivity, then one could program the drum machine with a computer or another MIDI device.

See also[link]

• Electronic drum
• Music sequencer

References[link]

External links[link]

• WikiRecording's How to Make Real Drums Sound like an 80s Drum Machine

Roger Linn at 2008 NAMM Show

Roger Linn is an industrial designer, mainly of electronic drum machines, and has recently branched out into guitar effects pedals.^[1] His products have become underground hits, being used on many famous recordings. Besides being an accomplished guitarist and producer, Roger Linn is also a member of the Dead Presidents Society, a group of distinguished innovators in the field of electronic music.^[2]

The LM-1[link]

The Linn Electronics LM-1

In 1979, Roger Linn revolutionized the world of electronic musical instruments by designing the world's first drum machine to use digital samples, the LM-1 Drum Computer.^[3] The LM-1 was the first drum machine to use samples of a real drum kit, though Roger Linn cannot recall exactly who the session drummer was that played the hits.^[3] To further add to the mystery, an entry in the online museum of the Roger Linn Design company credits L.A. session drummer Art Wood with most of the samples.^[1] Examples of the LM-1 in use can be found on recordings by Prince, Gary Numan, and Michael Jackson.^[1] Linn Electronics released two other designs after the LM-1: the LinnDrum and Linn 9000, which became synonymous with the music of the 1980s.

MPC60

MPC3000

Linn Electronics went out of business in 1986, at which point Linn was recruited by the Japanese company Akai to help in designing the MPC60, and later, the MPC3000.^[1]

Roger Linn Design[link]

AdrenaLinn II (front)

As of 2001, Roger Linn has founded a new company, Roger Linn Design. RLD's products so far are the AdrenaLinn series of guitar pedals, now updated to a third version. The AdrenaLinn is a digital multi-effects unit with a drum machine and amp modeler all in one, designed by Roger Linn with some help from Dave Smith (credited with helping to conceive MIDI) and Tom Oberheim (designer of early analog synthesizers). Most notably, unlike other guitar pedals, the AdrenaLinn specializes in beat-synced effects, including modulation and delay but also a sequencer that provides looped patterns of filtered tones, all moving in sync to its internal drum machine or to midi. The drum section can also be affected by the filter section, allowing dance-style beats. Other unusual aspects of this pedal include note-triggered filter effects such as auto-wah, simulated talk box and guitar synthesizer sounds. The AdrenaLinn technology was also the basis of Roger Linn's partnership with M-Audio to create the Black Box guitar multi-effect and recording unit.^[1]

The AdrenaLinn can be heard on the following records (among many others):

• John Mayer – "Heartbreak Warfare", from the 2009 album "Battle Studies", "Bigger Than My Body" from the 2003 album "Heavier Things" and "I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)" from the 2006 album "Continuum"
• Green Day – "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" from the 2004 album "American Idiot"
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – By The Way – Warner Bros. – 2002 (produced by Rick Rubin)
• Morcheeba – Parts Of The Process – Reprise Records – 2003
• Marillion – Marbles – 2004^[4]

LinnDrum II preview (2008)

Tempest (2011)
by Dave Smith Instruments (DSI)
  & Roger Linn Design (RLD)

LinnDrum II[link]

Roger Linn and Dave Smith have announced co-development of a drum machine product, originally to be called BoomChik, but changed to LinnDrum II in December 2007, a reference to one of Linn's early popular drum machines. The LinnDrum II page on Linn's site^[5] states that the product is still in development, though no release date is given. The same page also shows three earlier but rejected designs for the product. The LinnDrum II was renamed the DSI Tempest, and released in 2011.

Music career[link]

Roger Linn has had a level of songwriting success, penning hits ("Promises", Eric Clapton 1979; "Quittin' Time", Lou Ann Barton 1986, Mary Chapin Carpenter 1991, Amy Bishop 2009), and having toured as a guitarist with the pianist/songwriter Leon Russell in the 1970s at age 21.^[1]

In 2011 Roger was awarded a Grammy Award for Lifetime Technical Achievement, recognizing his many contributions to the music recording industry. This award was previously awarded to people such as Thomas Edison and Leo Fender.^[6][7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Akaipro.com
• Roger Linn Design
• About Roger Linn; biography, video interview by Sweetwater Sound
• A BBC Radio 4 programme devoted to Roger Linn's drum machines.
• LinnDrum II
• The Linn 9000 Homepage
• Mr. MPC: Roger Linn
• Linn MidiStudio (a very early prototype of the MPC60)
• Auction on VEMIA listing the Linn MidiStudio

Joe Penna (born May 29, 1987 in São Paulo), known online as MysteryGuitarMan, is a Brazilian guitarist, animator, and filmmaker. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

YouTube[link]

Penna maintains a popular channel on YouTube by the name of MysteryGuitarMan. He usually uploads videos every Thursday.

In January 2011, he was the most subscribed in Brazil.^[4] As of May 2012 his channel has over 2.1 million subscribers, and his videos have been viewed over 315 million times.^[5]

On February 18, 2010, Penna started a second YouTube channel, jp, where he uploads his making-of videos and vlogs. Within 6 hours, it became the third most subscribed channel in Brazil.^[1]

Press[link]

In 2007, Penna received media coverage, including attention from DC Fox News,^[6] after his "The Puzzle" video was featured on the front page of YouTube.

In 2009, Penna was again seen on the front page of YouTube with his "Guitar: Impossible" video, which has been covered by De Wereld Draait Door, the highest-rated primetime show in the Netherlands.^[7] On December 6, 2009, Penna was featured on FM4, an Austrian national radio station.^[8] Shortly after uploaded, his "Guitar:Impossible" video was featured on the MSN.com front page.

Best Buy announced Penna as the $15,000 winner of their Tech-U-Out Video Challenge. He was also a finalist in the "Oreo Global Moments" video competition. Ford selected Penna as a Fiesta Agent for the 2009 Ford Fiesta Movement.^[9] Penna's "Guitar: Impossible" video was also featured by YouTube as one of the best videos of 2009.

In 2010, Penna's "Root Beer Mozart" was featured on CNN's morning show Morning Express with Robin Meade and on Germany's nationally broadcasted Taff show. Penna's collaboration with YouTubers Rhett and Link and Billy Reid for "T-Shirt War" garnered national attention.^[10] Following the success of the original, Penna and the original cast were hired to produce a national television and cinema spot for Coca-Cola and McDonalds.^[11]

Penna was recently highlighted by CNN Money on their Best Jobs series.^[12] On June 24, Penna was selected as one of the top 10 new directors of 2010 at the 20th Cannes Lions Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase with "T-Shirt War".^[13] "Guitar: Impossible" was selected for the YouTube Play Shortlist, which is a collaboration between YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum.^[14][15]

References[link]

External links[link]

• MysteryGuitarMan YouTube Home Page
• MysteryGuitarMan's Second Channel
• Joe Penna's Website
• MysteryGuitarMan's Website

Phil Collins
Phil Collins performing in Perugia, Italy, 1996
Background information
Birth name	Philip David Charles Collins
Born	(1951-01-30) 30 January 1951 (age 61) Chiswick, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Progressive rock, rock, pop, pop rock, soft rock, jazz fusion, R&B, big band
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor
Instruments	Vocals, drums, percussion, guitar, piano, keyboards
Years active	1968–2011
Labels	Virgin, Atlantic
Associated acts	Genesis, Brand X, Flaming Youth, Philip Bailey, Eric Clapton, the Phil Collins Big Band, Frida Lyngstad, Brian Eno
Website	philcollins.co.uk

Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951)^[1] is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.

Collins sang the lead vocals on several chart hits in the United Kingdom and the United States between 1975 and 2010, either as a solo artist or with Genesis. His singles, sometimes dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", dance pop of "Sussudio", piano-driven "Against All Odds", to the political statements of "Another Day in Paradise".

Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, originally in a band called The Real Thing with Andrea Bertorelli, who later became his first wife. Collins played drums and shared lead vocals (with Brian Chatton) in Flaming Youth which recorded one album, (Ark II). In 1970, he took over drums for Genesis, which had already recorded two albums. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nursery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. Following Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer.

His solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both himself and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2000, were 150 million.^[2] Collins has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including seven Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards—winning Best British Male three times, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work.^[3][4] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Collins is one of only three recording artists (along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson) who have sold over 100 million albums worldwide both as solo artists and (separately) as principal members of a band.^[5] When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the 1980s than any other artist.^[6] In 2008, Collins was ranked the 22nd most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".^[7]

Early life[link]

Collins was born in Chiswick, London, the son of Winifred M. "June" (née Strange), a theatrical agent, and Greville Philip Austin Collins, an insurance agent.^[8][9] He was given a toy drum kit for Christmas when he was five. Later, his uncle made him a makeshift one that he used regularly. As Collins grew older these were followed by more complete sets bought by his parents.^[10] He practiced by playing alongside the television and radio, and never learned to read and write conventional musical notation; instead, he uses a system he devised himself.^[11]

Early career[link]

His professional training began at 14 when he entered Barbara Speake Stage School.^[12] He began a career as a child actor and model, and won his first major role as the Artful Dodger in the London production of Oliver!. He was an extra in the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, one of hundreds of screaming teenagers during the TV concert sequence and seen fleetingly in a close-up. He was also in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as one of the children who storms the castle at the end of the film, but it was cut.^[13] He also auditioned for the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1968),^[14] a role won by fellow Artful Dodger actor Leonard Whiting.^[15] Collins was among the last three finalists for the role of I.Q. on the American children's television show The Bugaloos (he lost out to English actor/musician John McIndoe).^[16]

Despite the beginnings of an acting career, Collins continued to gravitate towards music. While attending Chiswick Community School he formed a band called the Real Thing and later joined the Freehold. With the latter group, he wrote his first song titled "Lying Crying Dying".^[17]

Collins's first record deal came as drummer for Hickory, who changed their name to Flaming Youth by the time of their sole album, Ark 2 (1969).^[18] A concept album inspired by the recent media attention surrounding the moon landing, Ark 2 (with Ronnie Caryl, Brian Chatton and Gordon (Flash) Smith), failed to make much commercial success despite positive critical reviews. Melody Maker featured the album as "Pop Album of the Month", describing it as "adult music beautifully played with nice tight harmonies".^[19] The album's main single, "From Now On", failed on the radio. After a year of touring, band tensions and the lack of commercial success dissolved the group. In 1970, the 19-year old Collins played percussion on the George Harrison song "The Art of Dying". Harrison credited him in the liner notes to the remastered CD version of the album released in 2000.^[20]

Genesis era[link]

In 1970, Collins answered a Melody Maker classified ad for "...a drummer sensitive to acoustic music, and acoustic twelve-string guitarist".^[21] Genesis placed the ad after having already lost three drummers over two albums.^[22] The audition occurred at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents. Prospective candidates performed tracks from the group's second album, Trespass (1970). Collins arrived early, listened to the other auditions while swimming in Gabriel's parents' pool, and memorised the pieces before his turn.^[23]

Collins won the audition. Nursery Cryme was released a year later. Although his role remained primarily that of drummer and backing vocalist for the next five years, he twice sang lead vocals: once on "For Absent Friends" (from Nursery Cryme) and once on "More Fool Me" (from Selling England by the Pound).

In 1974, while Genesis were recording the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Brian Eno (who is credited with "Enossification" for electronic vocal effects on the track "Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging") needed a drummer for his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).^[24] Collins was sent to fill the gap, and played drums in lieu of payment for Eno's work with the band. Collins later contributed drums to the Brian Eno 1975, and 1977 art rock releases Another Green World and Before and After Science.

In 1975, following the final tour supporting the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career. Collins became lead vocalist after a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for Gabriel's replacement (where he sang back-up with the over 400 hopefuls that reportedly auditioned).^[25] In the short term, the group recruited former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to play drums during live shows, although Collins continued to play during longer instrumental sections. Bruford's drumming can be heard on the track "The Cinema Show" on the live album Seconds Out. He was soon replaced by ex-Frank Zappa band member Chester Thompson, who became a mainstay of the band's live line-up. Collins, however, continued to play drums on all of the group's studio recordings.

The first album with Collins as lead vocalist, 1976's A Trick of the Tail, reached the American Top 40, and peaked high as No.3 on the UK charts. Said Rolling Stone, "Genesis has managed to turn the possible catastrophe of Gabriel's departure into their first broad-based American success."^[26] Following the recording of Genesis's next album Wind and Wuthering guitarist Steve Hackett left the group to pursue his own solo career. The group decided to continue as a trio for recording with Mike Rutherford playing guitar and bass in the studio, although the lineup was regularly augmented by Chester Thompson and American guitarist Daryl Stuermer for concert tours.

Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, Unorthodox Behaviour, with Collins as drummer, but because Genesis was Collins's priority, there were several Brand X tours and albums without him. Collins credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.^[27]

Collins also performed on Steve Hackett's first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, on which he sang lead vocals and played drums. As the decade closed, Genesis began a shift from their progressive rock roots and toward more accessible, radio-friendly pop-rock music. The album ...And Then There Were Three... featured their first UK Top 10 and US Top 40 single, "Follow You Follow Me".^[28][29]

	"Dance on a Volcano" (1976) noicon The first track from Genesis's A Trick of the Tail was Collins's début as the group's full-time lead singer. A progressive rock track, it contrasts with the style of his later work.
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In the 1980s, while Collins developed as a songwriter and established a parallel career as a solo artist, Genesis recorded a series of highly successful albums including Duke, Abacab, Genesis, and Invisible Touch. The latter album's title track reached No.1 on the American Billboard singles chart, the only Genesis song to do so. The group received an MTV "Video of the Year" nomination in 1987 for the single "Land of Confusion" (which featured puppet caricatures created by the British satirical team Spitting Image) but lost out to Peter Gabriel's solo hit, "Sledgehammer".^[30] Reviews were generally positive, with Rolling Stone's J. D. Considine stating, "every tune is carefully pruned so that each flourish delivers not an instrumental epiphany but a solid hook."^[31]

Collins left Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career.^[17] The last studio album with him as the lead singer was 1991's We Can't Dance. He and Gabriel reunited with other Genesis members in 1999 to re-record "The Carpet Crawlers" for Genesis's Turn It on Again: The Hits. When in the mid-2000s discussions of a possible Genesis reunion arose, Collins stated that he would prefer to return as the drummer, with Gabriel handling the vocals.^[32] Eventually Turn It On Again: The Tour was announced for 2007, with the Collins/Rutherford/Banks line-up.

In March 2010, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio was asked to pay tribute to Genesis, one of his favourite bands, upon being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to Anastasio's speech, Phish appeared and performed two Genesis songs, "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply At All". Collins and his Genesis band-mates (minus Peter Gabriel) attended the ceremony but they did not perform.

Solo career[link]

Early solo recordings (1981–1983)[link]

The dominant theme running through Collins's early solo recordings (although never specifically mentioned in his songs) was the acrimonious breakdown of his first marriage and then-recent divorce. Two songs he wrote on the Genesis album Duke, "Please Don't Ask", and the Top 20 hit "Misunderstanding", dealt with failed relationships. One year earlier, he had played drums and sung backing vocals on John Martyn's Grace and Danger, an album whose main theme is also marriage break-up. With the recording of his first solo album, Face Value, Collins attributed his divorce as his main influence,^[33] as can be inferred from songs such as "If Leaving Me Is Easy".

	"In the Air Tonight" noicon "In the Air Tonight" from Face Value (1981), was the first single of Collins' solo career.
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Collins made his live debut as a solo performer, appearing at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis at the Amnesty International benefit show, The Policeman's Other Ball at the Theatre Royal in London in September 1981, performing two songs from Face Value including "In the Air Tonight" and "The Roof is Leaking" accompanying himself on piano. Face Value became a surprise international success topping the charts in at least seven countries and hitting the top ten of the Billboard 200 eventually going triple-platinum in the US. Hits from the album included "In the Air Tonight", "I Missed Again" and "If Leaving Me Is Easy". In 1982, he produced ABBA member Frida's solo album, Something's Going On, which helped to spawn the title track, "I Know There's Something Going On", which became a hit.

Much like Face Value, many of the songs from Collins's 1982 follow-up album, Hello, I Must Be Going!, came from Collins's marital problems with his first wife such as "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Do You Know and Do You Care". Collins’s early albums had a dark presence, usually heavy on the drums. Regarding Face Value, he says, "I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes."^[34] There were occasional poppier influences–Face Value's "Behind the Lines", for example, was a jazzy remake of a Genesis song he co-wrote. Face Value was a critical and multi-platinum success, and saw Collins’s profile increase further. Hello, I Must Be Going! gave him a UK No.1 for his cover of the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The album went triple-platinum in the United States, like its predecessor. The Supremes' cover was his first Top 10 US hit (it also hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart). The album also reached No.2 on the UK album chart, spending well over a year there.^[28]

Two years before, Collins had played drums on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled record (often referred to as Melt), the first record to feature the "gated reverb" sound, which was used on the song "Intruder". Gabriel reportedly "didn't want any metal on the record" and asked Collins to leave his cymbals at home, to concentrate on the sound of his kit more heavily than usual. Studio engineer Hugh Padgham augmented the drum sound by using a microphone normally intended for studio communication rather than recording and feeding it through a signal processor called a noise gate. This allowed the reverberation added to the drums to be suddenly cut off before it naturally decayed. The result was the arresting "gated reverb" which became Collins signature sound. This was the same 'big drum sound' used on such songs as "In The Air Tonight", "Mama" by Genesis, and Frida's "There's Something Going On".

Mid-career (1984–1992)[link]

	"Against All Odds" noicon "Against All Odds" from the soundtrack of the same name (1984), is a piano-driven ballad. "Another Day in Paradise" noicon A sample of "Another Day in Paradise" from ...But Seriously (1989). The ballad was written to bring attention to the problem of homelessness
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Collins changed his musical style with the release of the ballad, "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", which was the theme song to the movie of the same name in 1984. The more pop-friendly and radio-accessible single became Collins's first solo single to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100.^[29] Later that year, Collins contributed to production on Earth, Wind & Fire singer Phillip Bailey's debut album, Chinese Wall, collaborating with Bailey on the hit duet, "Easy Lover". Collins featured on Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas", he played drums and sang on the song. Collins released his most successful album, No Jacket Required, in early 1985. It contained the hits "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", and "Take Me Home", as well as the less known yet equally robust "Who Said I Would", and "Only You Know and I Know". The album featured Sting, Helen Terry and ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel as backing vocalists. He also recorded the successful song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin, and a US number one, for the movie White Nights.^[29] Collins had three US number one songs in 1985, the most by any artist that year.^[29] No Jacket Required went on to win several Grammy awards including Album of the Year.

No Jacket Required received criticism that the album was too safe, despite its upbeat reviews and commercial success. A positive review by David Fricke of Rolling Stone ended, "After years on the art-rock fringe, Collins has established himself firmly in the middle of the road. Perhaps he should consider testing himself and his new fans' expectations next time around."^[35] "Sussudio" also drew criticism for sounding too similar to Prince's "1999", a charge that Collins did not deny.^[36] Nevertheless, the album went straight to #1 in the US and UK. In 1985, Collins was invited by Bob Geldof to perform at the Live Aid charity event. Collins had the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK concert at Wembley Stadium and the US concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He accomplished this by performing early in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then transferring to a Concorde flight to the US enabling him to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia. While being a guest on major artists' hit recordings, Collins continued to enjoy solo success even while on tour with Genesis, besides from his number-one duet with Marilyn Martin in 1986, Collins would score two more hits from movies with the singles, "Two Hearts" (No.1 US, No.6 UK), and "Groovy Kind of Love" (No.1 UK, No.1 US), the latter two from the soundtrack of his feature film, Buster.^[28][29]

In 1989, Collins produced another successful album, ...But Seriously, featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", with David Crosby on backing vocals. (Collins later went on to co-write, sing and play on the song "Hero" on Crosby's 1993 album Thousand Roads.) "Another Day in Paradise" went to Number 1 on the Billboard Charts at the end of 1989 and won Collins Best British Single at the 1990 Brit Awards, and the 1991 Grammy Award for Record of the Year.^[37][38] In the process, it became the last No.1 US pop hit of the 1980s. The album ...But Seriously became the first No.1 US album of the 1990s and the best-selling album of 1990 in the UK. Other songs included "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (No.4 US, No.15 UK), "Do You Remember?" (not released in the UK, but a No.4 hit in the US), and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (the latter featuring Eric Clapton on guitar) (No.3 US, No.7 UK).^[28][29] Songs about apartheid and homelessness demonstrated Collins’s turn to politically-driven material. This theme recurred on his later albums. A live album, Serious Hits... Live!, followed. In September 1990, Collins performed "Sussudio" at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles.^[39]

Later solo work and Genesis reunion (1993–2008)[link]

Collins's record sales began to drop with the 1993 release of Both Sides, a largely experimental album that, according to Collins, included songs that "were becoming so personal, so private, I didn't want anyone else's input".^[40] Featuring a less polished sound and fewer up-tempo songs than his previous albums, Both Sides was a significant departure. Collins used no backing musicians, performed all the vocal and instrumental parts at his home studio, and used rough vocal takes for the final product. The album was not well received by radio. Its two biggest hits were "Both Sides of the Story" and "Everyday". Collins worked on the album completely independently of his record company, and took them by surprise when he delivered them a completed album that they were unaware he was making.

Collins officially parted ways with Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career (Genesis would produce one album without Collins—...Calling All Stations...—before going on hiatus). Collins attempted a return to pop music with Dance into the Light, which Entertainment Weekly reviewed by saying that "(e)ven Phil Collins must know that we all grew weary of Phil Collins".^[41] It included minor hits such as the title track and the Beatles-inspired "It's in Your Eyes". Although the album went Gold in the US, it sold considerably less than his previous albums. Despite this, the subsequent tour regularly sold out arenas.

In 1996, Collins formed the Phil Collins Big Band. With Collins as drummer, the band performed jazz renditions of various Collins and Genesis hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a world tour in 1998 that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1999, the group released the CD A Hot Night in Paris including big band versions of "Invisible Touch", "Sussudio", and the more obscure "The Los Endos Suite" from A Trick of the Tail.

Phil Collins's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 6834 Hollywood Blvd

A compilation album ...Hits was released in 1998 and sold very well, returning Collins to multi-platinum status in America. The album's sole new track, a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors", received considerable play on US Adult Contemporary stations while peaking at No.2.^[42] Some of Collins's earlier hits (e.g. "I Missed Again", "If Leaving Me Is Easy", etc.) and other successes were not included in this compilation.

Collins's next single, "You'll Be in My Heart", from the Disney animated movie Tarzan, spent 19 weeks at No.1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart – the longest time ever up to that point. The song won Collins an Academy Award for Best Song. It was his third nomination in the songwriters' category, after being nominated in 1985 and 1989. Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on 16 June 1999.^[43]

Collins performing in Barcelona, Spain in July 2004

In 2002 Collins released Testify. Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found this record to be the worst-reviewed album at the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases.^[44] The album's "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. Testify sold 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed.^[45]

That same year Collins accepted an invitation to drum for the "house band" at a concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. In 2003 announced his last solo tour^[46] – the "First Final Farewell Tour", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple farewell tours of other popular artists. In 2006 he worked with Disney on a Broadway production of Tarzan, a musical which received generally mixed reviews. In 2007 Collins reunited with his Genesis bandmates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford for Turn It On Again: The Tour, a tour of Europe and North America. During the tour Genesis performed at the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium. Following the band's performance, presenter Jonathan Ross had to apologise to viewers watching the televised version as Collins had used a swear word while singing "Invisible Touch".

[edit] Going Back and retirement (2009–2011)

In October 2009, it was reported that Collins was to record a Motown covers album. He told a German newspaper, "I want the songs to sound exactly like the originals", and that the album would feature up to 30 songs.^[47] In January 2010, Chester Thompson said that the album had been completed and would be released some time soon. He also revealed that Collins managed to play the drums on the album despite the adverse effects of his recent spinal operation.^[48] It was the first solo album Collins had recorded which consisted entirely of songs written by other people.

Going Back was released on 13 September 2010, entering the UK charts at number 4, rising to number one the following week.^[49] In early summer 2010, Collins played six concerts entirely dedicated to the music from Going Back. These included a special programme, Phil Collins: One Night Only, which was broadcast on ITV1 on 18 September 2010. Collins also promoted Going Back with his first and only appearance on the BBC's foremost music series Later... with Jools Holland, broadcast on 17 September 2010.

As of January 2011, Collins has spent 1,730 weeks in German music charts – 766 weeks of them with Genesis albums and singles and 964 weeks with solo releases.^[50]

Citing health problems and other concerns, Collins announced on 4 March 2011 that he was taking time off from his career, prompting widespread reports of his retirement.^[51] Days later, on 7 March, his UK representative told the press, "He is not, has no intention of, retiring."^[52] However, later that day, Collins posted a message to his fans on his own website, confirming his intention to retire in order to focus on his family life.^[53][54]

Drums and other equipment[link]

Phil Collins uses Gretsch drums and Sabian cymbals. Drums (all single headed concert toms except for the snare): 20" Bass Drum, 18" Floor Tom, 16" Floor Tom, 15" Mounted Tom, 12" Tom, 10" Tom, 8" Tom, 14"x4" Snare, 14" Phil Collins Special.

Cymbals: HH Medium Crash 20" – HH Extra Thin Crash 17" – Hi-Hats 15" – HH China 20" – HH Medium-Thin Crash 16" -HH China 22" – HH Raw Bell Dry Ride 21".^[55]

Until 1986, Collins played Paiste and Zildjian cymbals. Other drums he's used over the years are Premier, Noble & Cooley, Pearl, Simmons and Ludwig drums. He uses a Ludwig Speed King pedal and Pro Mark sticks.

Other instruments which have become synonymous with Collins's sound (particularly in his post-1978 Genesis and subsequent solo career) include the Roland CR-78 and Roland TR-808 drum machines, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer,^[56] and the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano.

Career as producer[link]

For his solo career and his career with Genesis, Collins produced or co-produced virtually all of his singles and albums, the notable exceptions being "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" (produced by Arif Mardin), and his cover of "True Colors" (produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.)

Collins also maintained a career as a producer for other artists throughout the 1980s, usually working on outside projects at the rate of one artist per year. His first outside work as a producer was the 1981 album Glorious Fool for John Martyn; he followed that up by producing Frida's 1982 album Something's Going On, which contained the international hit "I Know There's Something Going On".

1983 found Collins producing two tracks for Adam Ant, both of which hit the UK charts: "Puss 'N' Boots" and "Strip". ("Strip" was a minor US hit as well.) In 1984, he produced Phillip Bailey's album Chinese Wall, from which the hit Bailey/Collins duet "Easy Lover" was drawn. This album also contained the Bailey hit "Walking On The Chinese Wall".

In 1985, Collins produced several tracks on the Eric Clapton album Behind The Sun. The following year, he produced (in collaboration with Hugh Padgham) one track for Howard Jones, the international hit "No One Is to Blame".

Returning to work with Clapton, Collins was one of the producers on his 1987 album August. The UK top 20 single "Behind The Mask" was drawn from this album, and this particular track credited production to "Phil Collins in association with Tom Dowd."

In 1988, Collins and Lamont Dozier collaborated as writers and producers of the Four Tops top 10 UK hit "Loco In Acapulco", which was taken from the soundtrack of the film Buster, in which Collins starred. Finally, in 1989, Collins was one of the producers of the Stephen Bishop album Bowling in Paris, which included the US Adult Contemporary hit "Walking on Air", produced by Collins and Padgham.

Films, theatre and television[link]

The majority of Collins's film work has been through music. Four of his seven American number one songs came from film soundtracks, and his work on Disney's Tarzan earned him an Oscar. Collins even sang German, Italian, Spanish and French versions of the Tarzan soundtrack for the respective film versions. Collins's acting career has been brief. As a child, he appeared in three films, although two of the films were for brief moments as an extra. Besides the aforementioned A Hard Day's Night (1964), Collins's first lead role was in a children's film Calamity the Cow (1967).

Collins wrote and performed the title song to Against All Odds in 1984. The song became the first of his seven American number one songs and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. Collins was not invited to perform the song at that year's presentation, although he was in the audience as the song's composer. Collins had arranged his US tour to accommodate the possibility of appearing on the telecast in the event his song was nominated for an Oscar. It is believed that the producers of that year's Academy Awards show were not aware of his prominence as a musical performer. A note to Collins's label from telecast co-producer Larry Gelbart explaining the lack of invitation stated, "Thank you for your note regarding Phil Cooper [sic]. I'm afraid the spots have already been filled". Collins instead watched Ann Reinking perform his song.^[57] For a long time afterwards, he would introduce his performance of "Against All Odds" at his concerts by saying: "Miss Ann Reinking's not here tonight, so I guess I'll have to sing my own song".

As a vocalist, Collins sang Stephen Bishop's composition "Separate Lives" for the film White Nights (1985) as a duet with Marilyn Martin. The single of the recording became another number one hit for Collins. The song itself was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song (a category that honours the composer, not the vocalists). Bishop's song had parallels to some of the songs on Collins's first two albums. Writer Stephen Bishop noted that he was inspired by a failed relationship and called "Separate Lives" "a song about anger".^[58] When the song was being nominated for an Academy Award, in interviews about the original snub by the Academy for "Against All Odds", Collins would jokingly say "the hell with him – I'm going up too," referring to if Bishop's song were to win the award.^[59]

Collins's first film role since becoming a musician came in 1988 with Buster about the Great Train Robbery, which took place in England in August, 1963. The film received good reviews and Collins contributed four songs to the film's soundtrack. His rendition of "Groovy Kind of Love", originally a 1966 single by the Mindbenders, with lyrics by Toni Wine and music by Carole Bayer Sager, but with the melody of the Rondo section of Muzio Clementi's "Sonatina in G major", op. 36 no. 5 reached number one. The film also spawned the hit single "Two Hearts", which he wrote in collaboration with legendary Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier; the two artists would go on to win a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and receive an Oscar nomination in the same category, the second such honour for Collins; "Big Noise", written by Phil Collins and Lamont Dozier, which included Collins on vocals (although the song was not released as a single, an instrumental version of this song appeared as the B-side to the single version of "A Groovy Kind Of Love".) The final song, "Loco In Acapulco", was another collaboration between him and Dozier, with the vocals performed by the legendary Motown group the Four Tops. Film critic Roger Ebert said the role of Buster was "played with surprising effectiveness" by Collins, although the film's soundtrack proved more successful than the film did.^[60]

Collins had cameo appearances in Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) and the AIDS docudrama And the Band Played On (1993). He starred in 1993's Frauds, which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.^[61] He supplied voices to two animated features: Amblin's Balto (1995) and Disney's The Jungle Book 2 (2003). A long-discussed but never completed project was a film titled The Three Bears; originally meant to star him alongside Danny DeVito and Bob Hoskins, he often mentioned the film, though an appropriate script never materialised.^[62]

Collins performed the soundtrack to the animated film Tarzan (1999) for the Walt Disney Company. Collins won an Academy Award for "You'll Be in My Heart", which he performed at that year's telecast as well as during a Disney-themed Super Bowl halftime show. The song, which he also recorded in Spanish among other languages, became his only appearance on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks.^[42] Disney hired him, along with Tina Turner, in 2003 for the soundtrack to another animated feature film, Brother Bear, and had some airplay with the song "Look Through My Eyes".

On television, he twice hosted the Billboard Music Awards. He also appeared in an episode of the series Miami Vice, entitled "Phil the Shill", in which he plays a cheating con-man. He also guest starred in several sketches with The Two Ronnies. Most recently, he had a cameo appearance on the television series Whoopi.

In 2001, Collins was sought out by the satirist Chris Morris, and appeared in the Brass Eye 'Paedophile Special' endorsing a spoof charity called 'Nonce Sense'. At one point Collins, dressed in a matching baseball cap and t-shirt emblazoned with the name of this fictitious charity, stares into the camera and declares: "I'm talking Nonce-sense."

In 2005, Collins's work on Brother Bear was expanded as Disney used the song "Welcome" as the theme for Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams, the main parade celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland.

In 2006 Disney's Tarzan was adapted for Broadway. Collins contributed 11 new songs and instrumental pieces, and was deeply involved in the production. Unlike the film, where Collins sang all the material, the characters sang on stage.

Collins made an appearance as himself in the 2006 PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, set in 1984. He appears in three missions in which the main character must save him from a gang that is trying to kill him, the final mission occurring during his concert, where the player must defend the scaffolding against saboteurs while Phil is simultaneously performing "In the Air Tonight." After this, the player is given the opportunity to watch this performance of 'In the Air Tonight.' "In the Air Tonight" was also featured in the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and it was also featured in the film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, the 2009 movie The Hangover and the 2007 Gorilla commercial for Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate. The advertisement also helped the song re-enter the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart at number three in July 2008, the following week reaching number one, beating its original 1981 No.6 peak. Phil Collins had several ties to the hit show Miami Vice with 5 songs used in the course of the series as well as having starred in the episode "Phil The Shill."

Phil Collins was portrayed in the hit cartoon South Park in the episode "Timmy 2000" holding his Oscar throughout, referring to his 1999 win for "You'll Be In My Heart", which defeated "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. He was seen again in the episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime".

Phil Collins appears briefly in the Finnish animated sitcom Pasila in the episode "Phil Collins Hangover". The music of this episode is a pastiche of Phil Collins' "Another Day In Paradise".

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Collins has been married three times. He married Canadian Andrea Bertorelli in 1975. They met as students in a drama class in London.^[63][64] They had a son, Simon Collins, and Collins adopted Bertorelli's daughter Joely Collins, a Canadian actress. They divorced in 1980, after she started an affair with their painter and decorator. Collins later appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops singing his 1981 solo hit "In The Air Tonight" with a pot of paint and brush positioned near his piano.^[65] Collins has since claimed that the presence of the paint and brush was coincidental.

Collins met his second wife, Jill Tavelman, in 1980. They were married from 1984^[66] to 1996. They had one daughter, Lily Collins, born in 1989.^[67] Collins openly admits that some of their divorce-related correspondence was by fax (one, about access to their daughter, was reproduced in the Sun), but denies that this took her by surprise.^[64] Collins paid Jill £17M as final settlement.^[65]

Collins married his third wife, Orianne Cevey, in 1999 after a five year romance.^[65] They have two sons, Nicholas and Matthew. They bought Sir Jackie Stewart's former house located in Begnins, Switzerland, overlooking Lake Geneva. Announcing their separation on 16 March 2006, they were divorced on 17 August 2008. Collins reportedly paid Cevey £25M in settlement.^[65] Collins has said he will continue to live in Switzerland to be near the children. He is currently residing in Féchy, while also maintaining homes in New York and Dersingham, Norfolk, England.^[65][68] In 2008, Collins was quoted in People Magazine: "Marriage is a difficult proposition. But I haven't given up on it, either."^[69] Collins, however, stated in 2010 that he had no intention of marrying again.^[70]

Fortune[link]

Collins was estimated to have a fortune of £115 million in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2011, making him one of the 20 richest people in the British music industry.^[71]

Court case[link]

On 29 March 2000, Phil Collins launched a case against two former musicians from his band to recoup £500,000 ($780,000) in royalties that were overpaid. Louis Satterfield, 62, and Rahmlee Davis, 51, claimed their contract entitled them to 0.5 per cent of the royalties from Serious Hits... Live!, a live album recorded during Collins's Seriously, Live! World Tour tour in 1990. Their claim was they were an integral part of the whole album, but Collins responded the two should only receive royalties from the five tracks in which they were involved.^[72] Instead of asking for a return of what Collins considered overpayment, he sought to recoup the funds by withholding future royalties to Satterfield and Davis, which amounted to less than an annual sum of £12,500 ($20,000) each.

On 19 April 2000, the High Court ruled that the two musicians would receive no more royalty money from Phil Collins. The amount that Collins was seeking was halved, and Satterfield and Davis (who originally brought the suit forward in California) would not have to repay any of it. The judge agreed with Collins's argument that Satterfield and Davis should have been paid for only the five tracks on which they performed, including the hit "Sussudio".^[73]

Health problems[link]

Collins reported losing his hearing in his right ear in 2000 due to a viral infection. In September 2009, it was reported that Collins could no longer play drums, due to a recent operation to repair dislocated vertebrae in his neck.^[74] A statement from Collins on the Genesis band website said, "There isn't any drama regarding my 'disability' and playing drums. Somehow during the last Genesis tour I dislocated some vertebrae in my upper neck and that affected my hands. After a successful operation on my neck, my hands still can't function normally. Maybe in a year or so it will change, but for now it is impossible for me to play drums or piano. I am not in any 'distressed' state; stuff happens in life."^[75]

Honorary Degrees[link]

Collins has received several honorary doctorates in recognition of his work in music and also for his personal interests. In 1987, he received an honorary doctorate of fine arts at Fairleigh Dickinson University.^[76] . In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate of music at the Berklee College of Music.^[77] Then on 12 May 2012, he received an honorary doctorate of history at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas for his research and collection of Texas Revolution artefacts and documents, which has led him to own one of the world's largest private collection of Alamo related artefacts.^[78] His passion for the Battle at the Alamo has also led him to write the book The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey, published in 2012.^[79]

Activism[link]

Collins was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in 1994 in recognition of his work on behalf of the Prince's Trust.^[80]

Collins has stated he is a supporter of animal rights and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In 2005, he donated an autographed drumstick in support of PETA's campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken.^[81]

Collins also has a long-standing interest in the Alamo. He has collected hundreds of artefacts related to the famous 1836 battle in San Antonio, Texas, narrated a light and sound show about the Alamo, and spoken at related events.^[82] He has completed a book entitled "The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey" published by Statehouse Press, based in Buffalo Gap, Texas.^[83]

Collins has often been mentioned erroneously in the British media as being a supporter of the Conservative Party and an opponent of the Labour Party. This derives from the famous article in the Sun, printed on the day of the 1992 UK general election, titled "If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights", which claimed that Collins was among several celebrities who were planning to leave Britain in the event of a Labour victory.^{[citation needed]} Shortly before the 2005 election (when Collins was living in Switzerland), Noel Gallagher is reported as saying: "Vote Labour. If you don't and the Tories get in, Phil is threatening to come back."^[84] However, Collins has since stated that although he did once claim many years earlier that he might leave Britain if most of his income was taken in tax, which was Labour Party policy at that time for top earners, he has never been a Conservative Party supporter and he left Britain for Switzerland in 1994 purely because he met a woman who lived there. He said of Gallagher: “I don’t care if he likes my music or not. I do care if he starts telling people I’m a wanker because of my politics. It’s an opinion based on an old misunderstood quote.”^[85] Despite his claim that he did not leave Britain for tax purposes, he was one of several super-rich figures living in tax havens who were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.^[86] Questioned about his politics by Mark Lawson in an interview broadcast in 2009, Collins said: "My father was Conservative but it wasn't quite the same, I don't think, when he was alive. Politics never loomed large in our family anyway. I think the politics of the country were very different then."^[87]

Collins founded the Little Dreams Foundation in February 2000, which aims to "realise the dreams of children in the fields of sports and art" by providing future prodigies aged 4 to 16 years with financial, material, and mentoring support with the help of experts in various fields.^[88]

Collins supports the South African charity the Topsy Foundation, which provides relief services to some of South Africa's most under-resourced rural communities through a multi-faceted approach to the consequences of HIV and AIDS and extreme poverty. He donates all royalties earned in South Africa to the organization.^[89][90]

Collins is a patron of the charity Children in Hunger, a small UK based charity working to combat child poverty in Brazil.^[91]

Discography[link]

Genesis[link]

Studio albums[link]

Number one singles[link]

"In the Air Tonight" re-entered the New Zealand charts in 2008 at No.3 and then peaked at No.1, after featuring in a Cadbury Gorilla advertisement.

See also[link]

• List of awards and nominations received by Phil Collins
• Touring and studio musicians of Phil Collins

Notes[link]