Phil Collins' qualities as a frontman were overlooked for years. As a drummer for prog rock band
Genesis he was initially in the shadow of
Peter Gabriel. When he left the band in 1975, Collins stepped out from behind the drum set. In the 1980s, he turned Genesis into a hit machine. Collins also embarked on a successful solo career as a pop singer, which he continued alongside his work with Genesis
… until devoting all of his time to it in 1996 (although he returned in 1999 with Gabriel for a reunion). As a solo artist, Collins released personal and introspective material (which was not always very commercial), wrote a hit for Tarzan's soundtrack, jammed with Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne, formed a big band to play its own songs in jazz arrangements and played drums in Queen Elizabeth's "house band" at Buckingham Palace.more