Genesis – in addition to Phil, keyboardist Tony Banks and guitarist-bassist Mike Rutherford – had announced the reunion for The Last Domino? Tour, after 14 years of absence from the stages, but last year they canceled several dates due to Covid-19.
During the tour, Collins appeared weak and fatigued, he performed sitting down, he couldn’t even use his cane to walk. “I don’t do anything,” he explained to The Guardian a while ago. “I don’t train to sing at home, not at all. Rehearsals are practice. My health changes things, doing shows sitting down changes things.”
In an interview with the BBC he had recounted his frustrations and a dream, to perform with his son Nicholas: “I would like to play with him on stage, but I can barely hold a stick in my hand,” he admitted.
Phil Collins’ health problems date back to at least 2009, when the musician suffered a crushed vertebrae due to the position in which he played the drums: hence a first surgery, followed by another in 2015 that caused nerve damage.
To worsen the clinical picture, diabetes problems, acute pancreatitis, a bad fall in 2017 in which he hit his head and forced him to suspend the “Not Dead Yet Live Tour”.
Born on January 30, 1951, Phil Collins represents a very rare case in rock history: in the 70s he began his career with Genesis as a drummer, becoming the voice of the group when Peter Gabriel left in 1975.
With him the band artistically changed course, but achieved that worldwide success that Gabriel had fled from. But that’s not all: as a solo artist, Collins not only made a career as a star, but also took off the whim of recording one of the most famous drum fills in history, that of “In The Air Tonight” , and also playing as a drummer in Brand X, a band loved by music lovers between progressive and jazz.
All while still being the drummer, living for years with Chester Thompson and, of course, the lead singer of Genesis.
In short, with Phil Collins, soul pop prevailed, but the artist showed that he knows how to do it in a big way, revealing surprising skills as a relentless hitmaker. But even on his most spectacular tours, where the entertainer prevailed over the musician, he remained the excellent drummer for Nursery Crime, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
As a solo artist, he sold close to 150 million copies worldwide. Between the 80’s and 90’s he also had hits: cover of the Supremes, “You Can’t Hurry Love”, then “Against All Odds”, theme from the movie “Two Lives at Play” which completed with a Grammy, the duet with Philip Bailey best selling album “No Jacket Required” with “Sussudio” and “One More Night”.
Then Live Aid, with double appearances in London and Philadelphia, “Another Day in Paradise”. In the meantime, he had left Genesis, but returned shortly after.
Phil Collins has also left his mark as a producer and author of hits such as “You’ll Be in My Heart” (“You will be in my heart”), on the soundtrack of “Tarzan”, the Disney cartoon that earned him a Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and, so that nothing was missing, a star on the Walk of Fame.
Source: Ambito
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