Phil Collins is an English singer-songwriter, drummer and keyboardist from London.

Born 30^th January 1951 in Chiswick, Collins learned to play drums at a young age, and began his career with the progressive rock band Flaming Youth. They released their debut album Ark 2 in 1969 but, while critically acclaimed, the record was a commercial flop and the band soon broke up.

After appearing as a percussionist on George Harrison’s 1970 single The Art of Dying, Collins answered a classified ad posted in the Melody Maker and auditioned for the band Genesis. He got the position as drummer in the band and lined up alongside Peter Gabriel (vocals), Steve Hackett (guitar), Mike Rutherford (bass guitar) and Tony Banks (keyboards) to record the album Nursery Cryme. Although Gabriel was the undisputed lead singer, Collins provided the vocals for the album track Absent Friends.

The group gained in prominence over the next five years, releasing three albums (Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) and producing a number of popular singles (like Watcher of the Skies, Supper’s Ready, Firth of Fifth, I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), The Carpet Crawlers and In the Cage) before Peter Gabriel left the group in August 1975.

This paved the way for Collins to become the lead singer and with him at the helm, the group released another nine successful albums between 1976 and 1997. They scored a string of UK Top 10 hits, including Follow You Follow Me, Turn It on Again, Abacab, Paperlate, Mama, No Son of Mine and I Can’t Dance, and sold millions of records around the world.

During the 1980s and 90s, Collins also released six solo albums. Between them they have earned Collins sixteen Grammy Award nominations and scored a total of nine UK and US number one hits: You Can’t Hurry Love, Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now), Easy Lover (ft. Philip Bailey), One More Night, Sussudio, Separate Lives (ft. Marilyn Martin), A Groovy Kind of Love, Two Hearts and Another Day in Paradise.

His eighth solo studio album Going Back will be released in September 2010.