Phil Collins, The #33 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

Be sure to listen to Part One 

and Part Two

first!

 

The following year, Collins released the album ...But Seriously.  David Crosby sang backing vocals on "Another Day In Paradise", one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.  It dominated the music scene for four weeks on the Popular chart and five weeks on the AC chart in the U.S. and hit #1 in West Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland and #2 in the U.K., Austria and Ireland.  

For the second time in five years, Collins won the prestigious Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards and chalked up a Gold single.

Collins received eight other nominations at the Grammy Awards--Song of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Best Music Video, Short Form (for "Another Day In Paradise", Non-Classical Producer of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop Instrumental Performance (for "Saturday Night And Sunday Morning" and Best Music Video, Long Form (The Singles Collection).

 
The album rose to #1 in every major country in the world and finished 1990 as the top-selling album in the United Kingdom.  It has sold over four million copies in the United States and over 14.5 million around the world.  The #3 smash "I Wish It Would Rain Down" included Eric Clapton on guitar and topped the Canadian chart for six weeks.

 Collins earned American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album and Favorite Pop/Rock Male Album.  He flew to #1 for five weeks on the AC chart and #4 overall with "Do You Remember?", which is about "how you might meet an old flame and start to reminisce, realizing that the reasons for breaking up were maybe not what you remembered," Collins told The Mail on Sunday.  "We paint ourselves into corners, and pride doesn't allow us to see things any other way."  Stephen Bishop, who wrote "Separate Lives" for him, sings backing vocals.  

 

Phil enjoyed another of his biggest and most enduring with "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven", a #2 smash with Adults and #4 overall.  For the second consecutive album, Collins enjoyed four Top 10 hits, and this time those four all peaked in the Top 5.  After an incredibly hot streak of 14 Top 10 songs in eight years, however, it was his last big hit.

Phil's album Serious Hits...Live! was #1 in West Germany and the Netherlands and is just short of 10 million units sold globally.  Phil received an honorary doctorate of music from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 1991.

Genesis recorded the album We Can't Dance in 1991 and toured into the following year.  It was the final album Phil recorded with the band.

 Collins played all of the instruments on the album Both Sides in 1993, which reached #1 in the U.K., West Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and landed in the Top 10 in every major country except the United States, where it stopped at #13.  Although his duet with David Crosby (who wrote the song and recorded it originally), "Hero", reached #3 on the AC chart, it stalled at #44 overall. 

 

The album nonetheless has topped four million in worldwide sales.  Phil officially left Genesis in 1996 and released the Gold album Dance into the Light in 1996.  Collins enjoyed one of the best tours of the year while promoting the album.  Although all of six singles failed to reach the Top 10, "Just Another Story" is a solid track.

Collins was nominated for Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocals for his collaboration with Quincy Jones and Sammy Nestico, "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me".  

 

Phil and his band concluded a world tour in 1998 with a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival.  Collins released his compilation album Hits, which has gone over 10 million in worldwide sales.  Phil recorded a remake of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" for the album and jumped to #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

In 1999, Collins released the live album A Hot Night in Paris.

 

Phil recorded the soundtrack for the animated movie Tarzan.  "You'll Be In My Heart" presided at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for 19 weeks, a record at the time.  He sang his songs in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish for the soundtrack.  With an overall peak of #21, it is an obvious choice for one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*. 

Collins earned an American Music Award for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist for his work on Tarzan and won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "You'll Be In My Heart".  He won a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album and was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.  In the summer, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The next year, however, Phil became partially deaf in one ear due to a viral infection.  In 2002, Phil was the drummer for the house band at the Party at the Palace concert in honor of Queen Elizabeth II.

 

In 2003, Collins was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  He released his solo album Testify, which was his lowest-selling album to date.  Phil notched his eighth #1 AC hit with another song that Popular radio stations missed the boat on--"Can't Stop Loving You", a song written and originally recorded by Billy Nichols.  Leo Sayer, the Outlaws and Keith Urban have also covered it.  

Collins recorded songs for the 2003 animated movie Brother Bear.  Phil went on tour in 2004 and 2005 before working with Disney on the musical production of Tarzan.

(Photo provided by ITV)

Phil joined Genesis for the Turn It On Again tour in 2007.  Collins announced in 2009 that because of his deaf ear, he wouldn't be able to drum again.  In 2010, he released an album of Motown covers called Going Back.  Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions originally recorded "You've Been Cheatin'".

The following year, he announced that he was retiring to concentrate on his family life with his third wife, Orianne. 

However, in 2015, Collins announced that he was planning to record a new album and tour.  In 2016, Phil released his autobiography, Not Dead Yet.  He toured that year in Europe, and tickets to all five shows at the Royal Albert Hall sold out in 15 seconds.

Phil has registered 27 career hits with a sensational 14 of those reaching the Top 10 and seven going to #1.  He has 19 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart, with all but five of those hitting the Top 10 and eight #1's.  That consistent chart record makes Collins is one of the most reliable artists of all-time.  He owns a Diamond album, four that have sold at least four million, six that have sold at least three million and nine Gold albums and six Gold singles. 

Collins has bagged seven Grammy Awards from an impressive 24 nominations, three American Music Awards out of seven nominations, two Golden Globe Awards out of three nominations, two Oscars from three Academy Award nominations and one MTV Music Video Award from two nominations.

Collins has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, according to the Royal Albert Hall in London.