[19][20] Collins is the youngest of three children; his sister, Carole, competed as a professional ice skater and followed her mother's footsteps as a theatrical agent, while his brother, Clive, was a cartoonist.

[25] During a family holiday at Butlin's, a seven-year-old Collins entered a talent contest, singing "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"; he stopped the orchestra halfway through to tell them they were in the wrong key.

He sang "More Fool Me" on their 1973 album Selling England by the Pound[65] and on the subsequent tour, marking the first time he assumed the role of Genesis lead vocalist in a live setting.

He signed with Virgin Records and WEA for American distribution in order to distance himself from the Charisma label, and oversaw every step of its production; he wrote the liner notes himself and by hand.

[87] In October 1982, Collins took part in the one-off Genesis reunion concert Six of the Best held at the Milton Keynes Bowl in Buckinghamshire, which marked the return of Gabriel on lead vocals and Hackett on guitar.

[103] Collins responded that the band "weren't very good", that a "dribbling" Page had made him feel uncomfortable, and he only continued with the set rather than leave the stage in order to avoid negative attention.

[104] In November 1985, the song "Separate Lives", a duet featuring Collins and Marilyn Martin for the musical drama film White Nights, was released and became a US number one hit.

Reviews for the film were mixed and controversy ensued over its subject matter; Prince Charles and Princess Diana declined an invitation to the première after it was accused of glorifying crime.

He performed "In the Air Tonight" and "Take Me Home" at the Music for Montserrat benefit concert in London alongside Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Sting.

[173] At a press conference held at the Royal Albert Hall in the same month, Collins announced his Not Dead Yet Tour which initially took form as a short European trek from June 2017.

[174] The tour included five nights at the Royal Albert Hall which sold out in fifteen seconds, prompting the announcement of Collins's headline spot at the 2017 BST Hyde Park festival which became his largest solo concert.

His ability to make the drums bark with musicality and to communicate so convincingly in odd time signatures left many a drummer tossing on the headphones and playing along to Phil's lead.

[220] Rock historian Martin C. Strong wrote that Collins "truly polarised opinion from the start, his ubiquitous smugness and increasingly sterile pop making him a favourite target for critics".

[222] Over time, he came to be personally disliked;[223] in 2009, journalist Mark Lawson told how Collins's media profile had shifted from "pop's Mr. Nice guy, patron saint of ordinary blokes", to someone accused of "blandness, [being a] tax exile and ending a marriage by sending a fax".

Caroline Sullivan, a music critic of The Guardian, referred to his cumulative negative publicity in her 2007 article "I wish I'd never heard of Phil Collins", writing that it was difficult for her to hear his work "without being riven by distaste for the man himself".

[232] Erik Hedegaard of Rolling Stone mentioned that Phil Collins hate sites had "flourished" online, and acknowledged that he had been called "the sellout who took Peter Gabriel's Genesis, that paragon of prog-rock, and turned it into a lame-o pop act and went on to make all those supercheesy hits that really did define the 1980s".

"[238] Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher criticised Collins on multiple occasions,[239][240] including the comment: "Just because you sell lots of records, it doesn't mean to say you're any good.

"[242][246] He described criticism of his physical appearance over the years as "a cheap shot",[234] but has acknowledged the "very vocal element" of Genesis fans who believe that the group sold out under his tenure as lead vocalist.

[251] His songs have been sampled by various hip-hop and contemporary R&B acts, and performers including Lil' Kim, Kelis, and Wu-Tang Clan co-founder Ol' Dirty Bastard covered his work on the 2001 tribute album Urban Renewal.

"[251] Genesis bandmate Mike Rutherford has praised Collins's personality, saying that "he always had a bloke-next-door, happy-go-lucky demeanour about him: let's have a drink in the pub, crack a joke, smoke a cigarette or a joint".

[220] In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, published in 2004, J. D. Considine wrote: "For a time, Phil Collins was nearly inescapable on the radio, and enormously popular with the listening public — something that made him an obvious target for critics.

"[230] Tim Chester of the New Musical Express described Collins as "the go-to guy for ironic appreciation and guilty pleasures" and stated he was responsible for "some moments of true genius (often accompanied, it must be said, by some real stinkers)".

"[263] David Sheppard wrote for the BBC in 2010: "Granted, Collins has sometimes been guilty of painting the bull's-eye on his own forehead (that self-aggrandising Live Aid Concorde business, the cringe-worthy lyrics to 'Another Day in Paradise', Buster, etc.

), but nonetheless, the sometime Genesis frontman's canon is so substantial and his hits so profuse that it feels myopic to dismiss him merely as a haughty purveyor of tortured, romantic ballads for the middle income world.

[221] In a piece the following year, titled "10 Much-Mocked Artists It's Time We Forgave", New Musical Express critic Anna Conrad said Collins had been portrayed as a "villain", and wrote: "Was the bile really justified? ...

[294] In June 2017, Collins cancelled two shows after he slipped in his hotel room during the night and hit his head on a chair as he fell, resulting in stitches for a severe gash close to his eye.

[310] Referring to the 1997 general election in his article "Famous men and their misunderstood politics" for MSN, Hugh Wilson stated: "Labour won it in a landslide, which just goes to show the influence pop stars really wield".

He also wrote that Collins's reported comments and subsequent move to Switzerland led to "accusations of hypocrisy" since he had "bemoaned the plight of the homeless in the song 'Another Day in Paradise'", making him "an easy target when future elections came round".

[324] Collins was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in the 1994 Birthday Honours, in recognition of his work on behalf of The Prince's Trust, a leading UK youth charity founded by King Charles III (then-Prince of Wales) which provides training, personal development, business start up support, mentoring, and advice.

[325] Since appearing at the first Prince's Trust's rock concert in 1982 which included a performance as part of singer Kate Bush's backing band, Collins has played at the event numerous times since, most recently at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010.