“That‘s what I sang when I opened my mouth that day. It’s like verbal jazz”: How Phil Collins turned a moment of improvisation into the massive hit single that launched his solo career

Phil Collins performing onstage in 1980.

Phil Collins has been in the news recently due to his revelation that he nearly died in 2024 as a result of alcohol addiction. But amid the drama, it’s easy to overlook the fact that he’s one of the most successful musicians the UK has produced, from his days in prog-era Genesis, through that band’s transformation into one of the biggest bands of the 80s and his own ubiquity as a solo star during that decade and beyond – even if it made him one of the most reviled stars of the era.

“I look back and realise I was never out of everyone’s eyeline, y’know?” he tells Prog, reflecting on the fact that elements of the public and the press disliked him during his heyday. “I was just omnipresent! Whether on the radio, or on tour. But I can honestly say, on my children’s lives, it was simply enthusiasm. It wasn’t ambition; just one thing led to another. Same thing with Genesis – we thought playing the Marquee meant we’d made it.”