Phil Collins started out his career as a very young child actor. Born in Chiswick, London, on the 31st of January 1951, he starred in productions of Oliver, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Beatles film A Hard Days Night and at the tender age of six in Humpty Dumpty.

In 1970, after already playing with the groups Flaming Youth and Brand X, he joined Genesis as the drummer. When, in 1975, their singer Peter Gabriel left the group for personal reasons, Collins took over the role of lead vocalist. It was from then on that his career really took off. With hit albums such as "A Trick Of The Tail", "Duke", " Abacab", "Genesis" and "We Can't Dance" he became a firm favourite. However, not satisfied with just playing in a group he pursued other projects and in 1981 launched his solo career with the album "Face Value", which he wrote and produced himself. The album was actually motivated by the break up of his first marriage, spent 274 weeks in the charts and sold over 900.000 copies.

For most stars, being the lead singer of a group and a solo artist would be more than enough, but Phil Collins appeared to be an exception to the rule as he also wrote and produced material for the likes of Howard Jones, Frida (ABBA vocalist), Adam And The Ants and Robert Plant. He also played drums for various other artists, including Eric Clapton.

In 1984 he put music to film when he wrote "Against All Odds" for the same named film from Taylor Hackford. His interest in television and film didn't end there as he starred in an episode of Miami Vice and also in the film Risky Business which featured Tom Cruise, all the same year.

His solo and band hits continued through the 80s and in 1984 he played drums on the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". In 1985 he teamed up with Phil Bailey from Earth, Wind And Fire for the hit single "Easy Lover". Another word to describe Phil Collins would be fit, judging by what he did at the Live Aid concerts in 1985. Instead of playing for just one of the two which took place in America and England, he decided to participate in both by flying across the Atlantic between appearances. In the American concert he actually played drums for the reunion of Led Zeppelin.

Acting came once again to the front line for Phil in 1986 when he wrote the music and played the lead role of Buster Edwards for the film Buster. His music with the group Genesis was also doing well in the American charts with the high flying album "Invisible Touch".

Since that time his fame and fortune has gone from strength to strength. Not only has he found time for his own different endeavors, but he was also a regular at various tribute and benefits concerts.

Unfortunately his private life took a dive and in 1992 he went through his second divorce. Perhaps because of his dedication to his work, he paid the price with his marriage. However the professional side of things just got better and better with the albums "Both Sides", "Serious Hits Live" and "Dance Into The Light".

In 1996, after 16 years with Genesis, he decided to call it a day. Although in saying that, his links with the band were never severed and he has in fact recorded another album with them since then. As he said when he left the band, "I want to concentrate on film tracks and more on my solo career".

Since his initial departure from the group he has done just that and has enjoyed further success as a solo artist.
His personal life also seems to be on a more even keel now as he has recently married again and now lives with his new wife Orianne on the outskirts of Switzerland.