Trivia

His song "In The Air Tonight" was originally proposed to appear on the Genesis album "Duke", but Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford decided against recording it. It became Collins' first solo hit instead and remains one of his most famous songs.

"Against All Odds" won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1985, and it was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Collins was the only nominee in the category not invited to sing his song on stage, and sat in the audience as Ann Reinking performed it. His perceived negative reaction shown on the telecast is considered to be one of the most awkward moments in the history of the ceremony, and has been a favorite reference for Dennis Miller to relate someone reacting in a horrified fashion.

Collins released the single "Another Day in Paradise" in 1989 to raise awareness of homelessness around the world. Some critics accused him of hypocrisy as a millionaire musician. However, he collected money for homeless charities from fans at concerts and then donated double the total takings out of his own money. It was not the first time Collins had referred to the issue in his lyrics. He had previously written about the subject in the Genesis song "Man on the Corner" for the 1981 album "Abacab".

His favourite guitarist is Eric Clapton, who played on his singles "If Leaving Me Is Easy" and "I Wish It Would Rain Down".

He beat South Park (1997) creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Best Original Song Oscar in 1999. In return, Parker and Stone ridiculed Collins in several South Park (1997) episodes.

He has a son, the singer and drummer Simon Collins (born 1976) and a daughter, actress Joely Collins (born 1973) with his first wife, Andrea Collins; a second daughter, the film actress Lily Collins (born 1989) with his second wife, Jill Tavelman and two sons, Nicholas Grev Austin (born 21 April 2001) and Mathew Thomas Clemence (born 1 December 2004) with his third wife, Orianne.

He started to play drums at the age of five.

He was chosen ahead of many other singers as a replacement for vocalist Peter Gabriel after Gabriel left Genesis for a solo career. Most fans readily accepted Collins because he had been singing backup to Gabriel for years in the band and knew the band's catalog very well.

He played drums on Robert Plant's first two solo albums as well as accompanying Plant on his first solo tour. He sang backup vocals to Howard Jones on his 1986 single "No One Is To Blame". He also played drums and sang backup on Eric Clapton's single "Bad Love" from his album "Journeyman" (1989).

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.

He announced in 2009 that he was no longer able to drum due to a spinal injury.

In 1988, at the height of his success as a solo artist and in Genesis, Collins was estimated to be one of the 100 richest men in Britain. In 2009, the Sunday Times List estimated his net worth at $177 million.

By 2006, he had sold 130 million albums as a member of Genesis and over 100 million solo albums around the world. In the UK alone, Genesis had achieved 500 weeks on the albums chart and 187 weeks on the singles chart. He had also achieved 846 weeks on the albums chart and 235 weeks on the singles chart as a solo artist.

He has a deep interest in the Alamo and is a connoisseur of Alamo collectibles. Has also written a book: "The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey".

His music video for his 1990 single "I Wish It Would Rain Down" featured him fictionally winning an Academy Award. He later won one for his song "You'll Be in My Heart" from the soundtrack to Tarzan (1999).

He made a cameo appearance as the passer-by in George Harrison's, "When We Was Fab." Collins was holding one of John Lennon's solo albums.

Collins has an interest in the history of the Alamo located in San Antonio, TX. He visits there often and collects artifacts from the site. He provides narration to a "Battle of the Alamo" exhibit located just outside the grounds of the Alamo.

He had US number one singles with "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (1984), "One More Night" (1985), "Sussudio" (1985), "Separate Lives" (1985), "A Groovy Kind of Love" (1988), "Two Hearts" (1989) and "Another Day in Paradise" (1989). Genesis had a US number one single with "Invisible Touch" (1986).

He was the only artist to play at both of the main Live Aid (1985) concerts at Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, in the same day (Saturday 13 July 1985). He was able to accomplish this feat by boarding a British Airways Concorde flying from London's Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York where he was finally flown by helicopter to Philadelphia. Once in Philadelphia, he played drums for Eric Clapton, performed a solo set and then, along with Tony Thompson of Power Station, he sat in for the late John Bonham during Led Zeppelin's performance.

He plays the piano.

"Easy Lover" is a song written by Phil Collins, Nathan East and Philip Bailey. The song featured Phil Collins and Philip Bailey on vocals. The song also appeared on Philip Bailey's album "Chinese Wall". The video for the song was filmed in London, starting off with Philip Bailey riding to the studio in a helicopter, before Collins and Philip Bailey sung the song in various places, including a studio and a local restaurant. Collins has also used the song in his Live shows and appears in his 1990 live album "Serious Hits... Live!", as well as his 1998 compilation album, Hits.

He is a fan of Earth Wind & Fire and used members of the group to perform the brass sections on many of his own songs (they also appear on the Genesis songs "No Reply at All" and "Paperlate").

He was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order of the British Empire in the 1994 Queen's Honours List for services to music and charity.

In 1999, he reunited with his former Genesis bandmates Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett for a re-recording of the Genesis song "The Carpet Crawlers" (originally from their 1974 album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"), which appears on the Genesis compilation "Turn it on Again". It was the first time since 1982 the five performed together, when Peter Gabriel reunited with the band for a charity concert. Steve Hackett was also there but performed only in the encore.

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, and he donates all royalties earned in South Africa to the organization.

He is the son of talent agent June Collins. His mother discovered Jack Wild, who was a childhood friend of Phil's and went on to play the Artful Dodger in Oliver! (1968), and Keith Chegwin, who also became an actor and British television presenter.

He was appointed Honourary Ambassador of Peace for the Harvey Ball Foundation along with Brooke Shields, Jackie Chan, A.V.T. Shankardass, Jerry Lewis, Prince Albert of Monaco, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Jimmy Buffett, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, Heather Mills, Yoko Ono, Patch Adams, Sergei Khrushchev and Winnie Mandela.

He became a trustee of the Prince's Trust in 1983. He was one of the guests at the wedding of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

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

Chester Thompson played drums on Genesis and Phil Collins solo tours - thus enabling Phil to go out front where the punters could see him.

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.

He supports Tottenham Hotspur.

In December 2006, he was living in New York, while preparing to tour Europe with Genesis in 2007.

The often-repeated story that he left his second wife by fax derives from a front page headline in The Sun, "Phil: I'm Faxing Furious", which was broken by Andy Coulson. Coulson later became editor of the News of the World and became director of communications for British prime minister David Cameron, but was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2014 after being convicted of "conspiring to illegally intercept communications".

His everyman pop appeal saw him dubbed the "patron saint of ordinary blokes" by journalist Mark Lawson.

One of the UK's most popular television actors, David Jason, went out with Collins' older sister before was famous, according to Jason in his autobiography.

He never topped the UK singles chart with Genesis but had solo number ones with "You Can't Hurry Love" (1983), "Easy Lover" (1985) (with Philip Bailey) and "A Groovy Kind of Love" (1988). He has had UK number one solo albums with "Face Value" (1981), "No Jacket Required" (1985), "But Seriously" (1989), "Both Sides" (1993), "Hits" (1998) and "Going Back" (2010). He has also had UK number one Genesis albums with "Duke" (1980), "Abacab" (1981), "Genesis" (1983), "Invisible Touch" (1986), "We Can't Dance" (1991) and "Live - The Way We Walk - Vol 2: The Longs" (1993).

In January 1989, he was voted the fourth most popular radio artist for 1989 in France. First was Kylie Minogue; second David Hallyday and third Madonna.

A popular tradition in Genesis live shows since the late 1970s is the "Drum Duet" between Collins and Chester Thompson, in which the two men compete in a drumming duel for several minutes.

He first rose to fame as the drummer (and later singer) of the progressive and pop rock band Genesis. He announced his departure from Genesis in 1996 after many successful years so that he could focus completely on his solo career. In 2007, he returned for his final tour with the band, which was dubbed the "Turn it on Again" tour after their 1980 single.

His favorite Genesis album is "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".

Many people say he bears a physical resemblance to Bob Hoskins. Both appeared in Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) (albeit without appearing in any scenes together), as well as Amblimation Studios' Balto (1995)_, where they both did voice-roles. And Collins' band Genesis provided a song for the soundtrack of Hoskins' movie Mona Lisa (1986), the ballad "In Too Deep". Ironically, when Collins was cast as Buster Edwards in Buster (1988), the filmmakers had originally considered Hoskins for the part.

In June 2015, he purchased a gated 7-bedroom Miami Beach mansion for $33m, a property that had once been home to Jennifer Lopez.

He won the British Phonographic Industry Award for British Male Solo Artist in 1986 following the success of his multi-million selling album "No Jacket Required". He won the 1989 Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist following the success of his singles "A Groovy Kind of Love" and "Two Hearts", both featured in the movie Buster (1988). He was also the winner of the 1990 Brit Awards for British Male Solo Artist and British Single for "Another Day in Paradise" following the success of his multi-million selling album "But Seriously".

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Collins was one of several star names who were seriously considered on a shortlist for the role of the D.J. (eventually played by alternative comedian Alexei Sayle) in Revelation of the Daleks: Part One (1985) (source: "Doctor Who: The 1980s" by Howe-Stammers-Walker).

He is credited with writing the music and lyrics of just three Genesis songs on his own. These are "Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask" from the album "Duke" and "Man on the Corner" from the album "Abacab".

An enthusiast of the Battle of the Alamo, he has published and issued a book called "The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey".

In 2000, Mariah Carey and Westlife had a British number one hit with a cover of his song "Against All Odds" (originally a hit for Collins in 1984). The song became a number one single again, this time for Steve Brookstein, in 2005. It was also recorded by Michael Ball, appearing on his albums "The Movies", "Stage and Screen" and "Seasons of Love", Barry Manilow on his album "The Greatest Songs of the Eighties" and Bonnie Tyler on her album "Heart Strings".

He is of English descent. His paternal line can be traced back to his great-grandfather, Arthur James Collins, who was born c. 1854, in England.