Phil Collins

Former Genesis frontman Phil Collins performed at the Belgrade Arena on October 28 in front of 12,000 fans.

Born on January 30, 1951, in London, Philip David Charles Collins left an indelible mark on the global music industry as a composer, singer, drummer and actor. Besides writing and playing for two legendary bands, he also enjoyed success as a solo artist and even as an actor.

Although first and foremost a drummer, as a composer he wrote some of the most popular songs in contemporary pop, and he also proved to be an excellent and distinctive vocalist. With Genesis he achieved commercial success, but also the respect of fellow musicians, especially Eric Clapton, Sting, Robert Plant and Quincy Jones, who invited him to play with them. His successful career began after a brief stint with Flaming Youth in 1969, when he auditioned for Genesis, at the time considered a rising progressive rock band. He joined the band as its drummer in 1970. Some time later, the group’s leader and singer Peter Gabriel left Genesis, and Collins also took over as lead vocalist. At the same time, in the mid-1970s, he played drums in the fusion jazz project Brand X. In those years, the original concept of Genesis as an art rock band began to shift toward a pop/R&B sound accessible to a wider audience. Alongside the band’s new album in the early 1980s, Collins released his first solo album, “Face Value”, which featured the big hit “In the Air Tonight”. Over the next fifteen or so years, hit albums by Genesis and by Collins as a solo artist followed one another. In 1996, however, he announced that he was leaving the band after 26 years. By then he had realized that he wanted to focus on his solo career, go on tour and fulfill his dream of playing in a jazz band. He then founded The Phil Collins Big Band, which drew considerable attention at the time. Collins also acted: he made a guest appearance in the popular series “Miami Vice”, played the lead role in the comedy “Buster” and took part in the 20th-anniversary performance of The Who’s rock opera “Tommy”. Besides several other notable film roles, he also wrote music for the films “White Nights”, “Tarzan”, “Buster”, “Brother Bear”...