' ascent to the status of one of the most successful pop and adult contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond was probably as much of a surprise to him as it was to many others. Balding and diminutive,
was almost 30 years old when his first solo single, "In the Air Tonight," became a number two hit in his native U.K. (the song was a Top 20 hit in the U.S.). Between 1984 and 1990,
had a string of 13 straight U.S. Top Ten hits.
Long before any of that happened, however,
Collins was a child actor/singer who appeared as the Artful Dodger in the London production of
Oliver! in 1964. (He also has a cameo in A Hard Day's Night, among other films.) He got his first break in music at the end of his teens, when he was chosen to be a replacement drummer in the British art rock band
Genesis in 1970. (
Collins maintained a separate jazz career with the band
Brand X as well.)
Genesis was fronted by singer
Peter Gabriel. They had achieved a moderate level of success in the U.K. and the U.S., with elaborate concept albums, before
Gabriel abruptly left in 1974.
Genesis auditioned 400 singers without success, then decided to let
Collins have a go. The result was a gradual simplifying of
Genesis' sound and an increasing focus on
Collins' expressive, throaty voice. And Then There Were Three... went gold in 1978, and
Duke was even more successful.
Collins made his debut solo album,
Face Value, in 1981, which turned out to be a bigger hit than any
Genesis album. It concentrated on
Collins' voice, often in stark, haunting contexts such as the piano-and-drum dirge "In the Air Tonight," which sounded like something from
John Lennon's debut solo album,
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
During the '80s,
Collins was enormously successful in balancing his continuing solo work with his membership in
Genesis. In 1992,
Genesis released
We Can't Dance and began an extensive tour. Upon its completion
Collins released
Both Sides in 1993, and the record became his first album not to produce a major hit single or go multi-platinum. In 1995, he announced that he was leaving
Genesis permanently. The following year, he released
Dance into the Light. Although the album was a flop, its subsequent supporting tour was a success.
The
Hits collection followed in 1998, and a year later
Collins made his first big-band record,
Hot Night in Paris. The song cycle Testify arrived in 2002, and his next studio-recorded solo release was 2010's Going Back, which saw
Collins revisiting the Motown hits that so influenced him and featuring three of the surviving Funk Brothers -- guitarists Eddie Willis and Ray Monette and bassist Bob Babbitt.
–
William Ruhlmann, Rovi