Introduction

At 75, Phil Collins Reveals the Greatest Musicians He Ever Knew 🎶

At 75, Phil Collins has nothing left to prove.

He has sold millions of records, filled stadiums, fronted Genesis, built an enormous solo career, and played drums on recordings by some of the biggest names in music.

But ask what made Phil Collins extraordinary, and the answer isn’t simply his own talent.

It’s also the musicians who shaped him.

The people he admired.

The people he played beside.

And the artists who pushed him to become better.

One name towers over Phil’s early musical imagination:

Ringo Starr.

As a young drummer growing up in England, Phil watched The Beatles transform popular music.

Ringo’s playing wasn’t about showing off.

It was about serving the song.

That philosophy would become central to Phil’s own drumming.

But another drummer had an enormous impact on him:

John Bonham.

The Led Zeppelin powerhouse represented something completely different—weight, power and an unmistakable groove.

Phil admired Bonham deeply, and years later he even found himself performing alongside surviving members of Led Zeppelin at Live Aid in 1985.

Then there was Eric Clapton.

By the 1980s, Phil wasn’t simply watching his heroes from a distance.

He was working with them.

Phil produced and played drums on Clapton’s albums Behind the Sun and August.

Their musical worlds crossed repeatedly, creating a friendship and professional relationship between two artists who had already become legends themselves.

And then came Peter Gabriel.

Their relationship was different.

Gabriel wasn’t merely another famous musician.

He had been the original frontman of Genesis.

When Gabriel left the band in 1975, few people imagined the drummer sitting behind the kit would eventually become Genesis’s lead singer.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Phil stepped forward.

Genesis survived.

Then it became even bigger.

Yet Phil’s musical world stretched far beyond rock.

He had a deep love of soul and Motown.

That influence can be heard throughout his solo career, eventually leading to his album Going Back, where he celebrated the music that had inspired him as a young man.

And perhaps no discussion of Phil’s musical life would be complete without Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford.

They weren’t simply colleagues.

Together, they carried Genesis through decades of enormous change.

From progressive rock epics to stadium-filling pop songs, the three developed a musical language that belonged only to them.

Listen to “Invisible Touch.”

“Land of Confusion.”

“Follow You Follow Me.”

Or “No Son of Mine.”

Behind those songs was a partnership that survived changing fashions, solo careers and the passage of time.

That’s what makes Phil Collins’ story remarkable.

He lived through an era when musical giants seemed to be everywhere.

The Beatles.

Led Zeppelin.

Genesis.

Eric Clapton.

Peter Gabriel.

Motown’s greatest voices and musicians.

And Phil didn’t merely witness that history.

He became part of it.

Today, physical limitations have taken Phil away from the drum kit that once seemed like an extension of his body.

That reality makes old performances more emotional to watch.

Look closely at the young man behind those drums.

He couldn’t possibly have known where the music would take him.

Or how many legends he would meet along the way.

And perhaps there is one final name missing from Phil Collins’ list of great musicians.

Phil Collins himself.

He might never be the person to say it.

But millions of fans already have. ❤️