Phil Collins was born on January 30, 1951 at Putney Hospital in Wandsworth, south-west London. As a young man, his father had run away to sea but was ordered back by Collins’ grandfather, who insisted he went to work in the City for Sun Alliance Insurance.
His mother ran a toy store before helping to start a children’s talent agency. At the age of three, Phil was given his first drum. Two years later he got a drum set that fitted in a suitcase.
At the age of 12, he sold his brother’s train set (he thought it was his to sell) for £10 and bought a proper drum kit.
The first band he truly loved was The Action, a North London mod band that played R&B covers. The first gig he saw was The Yardbirds – on the day Jeff Beck joined.
A child actor, at 14 he appeared in a crowd scene in A Hard Day’s Night, and by 19 he was playing percussion on George Harrison’s “Art of Dying.” All Phil Collins wanted to do was to play music.
His first group, Flaming Youth, never got enough work and, in 1969, were finally killed off by having to perform their “arty” mini-opera Ark2 – a piece nobody understood or particularly liked (although it was later used as the basis for a 1977 BBC TV rock opera called Orion), at the few gigs they did get.
Below are some amazing vintage photos of a very young Phil Collins from the 1960s:
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