Another look at Phil Collins' rise to stardom

Part Two

Last week we took a look at Phil Collins’ early years in the music business, including the time during his mid-twenties when he joined Genesis in 1975.

By 1980, they hit the top 14 spot on Billboard with ‘Misunderstanding’.

After releasing six more singles that went no higher than the 26 position, between then and 1983, ‘That’s All’ peaked in the Top 10 at #6 in February of 1984.

As a solo vocalist, Phil released two singles, ‘I Missed Again’ and ‘In the Air Tonight’ in the spring of 1981 that both peaked at #19 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

In 1983, he finally had a top 10 hit with ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, which stayed in that spot during the first three weeks of February.

But it was in the spring of 1984 that Collins finally struck gold when his single ‘Against All Odds’ (Take a Look at Me Now) from the movie of the same title, starring Jeff Bridges, hit the top of the charts in the last week of February and remained #1 for three weeks. The song stayed in the top 10 for 10 weeks. It also went on to win him a Grammy Award for Pop Male Vocalist.

The next year was a phenomenal one for Collins as he had four #1 hits, including ‘Easy Lover’ with Philip Bailey, ‘One More Night’, ‘Sussudio’, ‘Separate Lives’ with Marilyn Martin, and a top 4 song with ‘Don’t Lose My Number’.

In 1986, Phil had another top 10 tune with ‘Take Me Home’, while in 1988 and 1989 he had three more #1 hits with ‘Groovy Kind of Love’, ‘Two Hearts’ and ‘Another Day in Paradise’ which also won him a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

Then he had a final burst of hits in 1990 with ‘I Wish It Would Rain’, ‘Do You Remember?’ and ‘Something Happened on the Way to Heaven’ all reaching the top three or four positions on the Hot 100.

Not to be outdone, his group Genesis, with Collins on lead vocals, scored a number one hit with ‘Invisible Touch’ in 1986 while their next four singles, ‘Throwing it All Away’, ‘Land of Confusion’, ‘Tonight, Tonight, Tonight’ and ‘In Too Deep’ all reached #3 or #4 on the Top 100 charts.

While things slowed down considerably after that, it should be noted that ‘I Can’t Dance’ reached the top 7 spot in 1992.

While Phil is often thought of as being an excellent vocalist, there have been many musicians and drummers from the music industry who revere and idolize his drumming skills. Even Rolling Stone Magazine picked him as #43 in the greatest 100 drummers of all time. They said that in 1979, he established his signature gated snare drum sound and his style became a key part of countless ‘80s records.

With all this tremendous success, Phil has also had his share of disappointments with three failed marriages, health issues and alcoholism, which he has finally gotten under control by being sober for the past five years. Unfortunately, 11 years ago, while performing on stage, Collins slipped and injured his vertebrae in his upper neck which led to an operation that eventually meant he could no longer play drums or piano.

However, if everything goes as planned, as Genesis is booked to appear at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on November 29, Collins will be using a cane to help get around and mostly be sitting in a chair with members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford up front. Also on stage will be their back-up drummer, Phil’s 20-year-old son Nic Collins, and the band’s long-time bass player and lead guitarist Daryl Steurmer.

It should be a great show.