Q&A with Phil Collins
The retiring drummer talks money and his fascination with the Alamo
By Jay MacDonald
When it comes to the money game, Phil Collins did what any good drummer would do: He beat it.
As a kid, he starred as the
Artful Dodger in the London production of "Oliver!" As a teen, he
answered a classified ad for a drummer and joined the art-rock band Genesis.
Five years later, when Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel went solo, Collins
stepped to stage center to replace him in what was then a money-losing band. Five years after that, he unleashed his songwriting skills on his multiplatinum solo
debut, "Face Value," which included his breakout hit, "In the
Air Tonight."
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Phil Collins, author,
'The Alamo and Beyond'
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The famed drummer, songwriter and singer has revealed another facet in his book, "The Alamo and Beyond," released in March 2012. Collins has been fascinated with the Alamo since childhood in England, and collects memorabilia from the event, including Mexican General Santa Anna's sword.
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From then on, Collins was never
far from the charts, producing a string of seven No. 1 hits that includes
"One More Night," "Sussudio" and "Another Day in
Paradise." Collins even successfully combined his two stage careers,
starring in the film "Buster," writing "Against All Odds (Take a
Look at Me Now)," his first No. 1 single, for the 1984 Jeff Bridges film,
and receiving an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "You'll Be In My
Heart" from the Disney film "Tarzan."
At age 61, Collins just
unveiled another surprise: "The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's
Journey," a sumptuous coffee table book that reveals for the first time
his lifelong, in-depth study of the pivotal 1836 battle for Texas independence.
Collins' studious book, which
showcases his extensive collection of Alamo artifacts that includes Davy
Crockett's rifle, Jim Bowie's knife and Sam Houston's snuff box, earned him yet
another accolade: an honorary doctoral degree in history from McMurry University in
Abilene, Texas
CreditCards.com: May we now refer to you as Dr. Collins?
Phil Collins: Doctor or admiral;
I was also made an honorary admiral of the Texas fleet while I was there. You
can call me anything you want.
CreditCards.com: Here in the U.S., a whole generation grew up
singing the Davy Crockett theme song.
Collins: Yeah, and I thought it was my secret at 5 or 6 years old.
CreditCards.com: Did you have the requisite coonskin cap?
Collins: Well, my grandmother cut up a fur coat! She had an old fur
coat -- old, obviously -- that she cut up and made into a hat. There's a picture
of me wearing it in the book. England at that point was way behind the States
in terms of the availability to toys. A Disney friend of mine here in the
States tells how his father had bought him a 6-foot constructible Alamo. That
was unheard of where I was.
CreditCards.com: Rock stars tend to collect vintage instruments.
Collins: Or Aston Martins or Ferraris. Yeah, I never really shared
it with anybody. It was a very personal thing that I just slowly pecked away
at. My collection's in my basement in Switzerland; I had cabinets built for it
and it's all labeled, should someone ... but no one does. There are probably 20
people outside my family who've seen it, apart from what's there in the book. There's
no one I know who is interested in this stuff.
That first Davy Crockett letter that I saw in a shop in Georgetown, I guess I could have bought it but my upbringing told me that it was too expensive. I don't know why. My mum always kind of taught me to save for the rainy day.
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CreditCards.com: Do you remember your first historical find?
Collins: That first Davy Crockett letter that I saw in a shop in Georgetown,
I guess I could have bought it but my upbringing told me that it was too
expensive. I don't know why. My mum always kind of taught me to save for the
rainy day. And now, at 61, the rainy days are kind of fleeting. So that's
become my passion. I still don't buy everything I'm offered; far from it. And I
still, on the odd occasion, will pay more than I think is decent for something
that I think I should have. I just bought (Mexican General) Santa Anna's sword for
an extraordinary amount of money, but that seemed right; the provenance was
good.
CreditCards.com: So you buy it now and kick yourself later.
Collins: Yeah, I'll kind of eat bread and cheese for the next
couple of months. It's weird; I've got the money, but I still think like I
haven't got the money. That's the way I was brought up. So if something comes
along and it's too expensive, I just say well forget it, someone else can buy
it.
CreditCards.com: It must be rewarding to finally share your
collection with the world.
Collins: I do think there is something strange -- maybe I should
keep looking behind me -- because the last album I did was "Going
Back," which is the Motown covers album; it's like a rounding off of a career.
And my fascination with the Alamo started around the same time. So both things
have come full circle at the same time. I don't know what to do next, to be
honest.
CreditCards.com: Unlike some rockers of the era, you didn't come
from dire circumstances.
Collins: (Laughs) "I was born a poor black child," as
Steve Martin used to say. No, I had a great childhood. My mum and dad let me do
my thing. I'm the youngest of three. My brother is still a working cartoonist
for magazines and newspapers, been doing that all his life, and we shared a
room when we were young. My sister was an ice skater for Disney on Ice, an
accomplished ice skater. And my father pleaded, "Give me one normal
child!" because the three of us were really looking like we were going in
a direction that wasn't as solid as his, which was working in the city of
London at an insurance company. But we were all able to do our own things.
CreditCards.com: You fairly quickly hired on with a successful rock
band in Genesis. Do you remember a moment when you felt the financial burden
leave your shoulders?
Collins: Um, I never had that moment. Genesis lost money. Like
probably a few other bands of that era, we were looking as if we were doing
very, very well but spending an awful lot on the production. It took a lot of
money to get the Genesis machine rolling; the physical shows were expensive to
put on. And we had the one catastrophic year in the early '70s when our
road manager, who was supposed to keep all the receipts, didn't keep anything,
so we owed all this money back since we had no proof that we'd spent it. That's
when Tony Smith, who has been our manager ever since, said, "Someone's got
to take care of you guys because you're going to end up in prison or
something."
CreditCards.com: You didn't spend like a rock star?
Collins: No. For me, I can fully put my hand on my heart and say I
always thought the bubble was going to burst. This saving for a rainy day thing
has always been hanging around me.
CreditCards.com: Even when your first solo album, "Face
Value," went multiplatinum?
It was never about the money, that's for sure. I never really thought about it. That isn't because I came from a background that had a lot of money; I just figured that all you've got to do is have enough to live.
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Collins: Yeah, but then ... it depends on the kind of person you are.
I would have started worrying about my second album; what am I going to do now? Other people would have enjoyed the
moment and I rarely enjoyed the moment, if I'm being totally honest. I've been
married three times and there has always been something chomping at my heels,
it seems. But I think that's my problem. I had every reason to be very, very
happy and thinking that the best was yet to come, but I kind of was always a
little wary that OK, well, you've had a lucky break for your first album. What
are you going to do for your second album? It was a little bit cautious.
CreditCards.com: So it was never about the money.
Collins: It was never about the money, that's for
sure. I never really thought about it. That isn't because I came from a
background that had a lot of money; I just figured that all you've got to do is
have enough to live. And that's all I ever wanted to do, make a living playing
the drums.
CreditCards.com: How did you keep your runaway success from going
to your head?
Collins: Certainly once my solo career started ... well, there was no
getting away from Genesis. Tony (Banks) and Mike (Rutherford) would never let
me forget that I only used three chords on those songs! And we do it to this
day. We would never allow ourselves to get too full of ourselves, not in that
band.
CreditCards.com: You dislocated a vertebra on the 2007 Genesis
reunion tour. Can you drum now?
Collins: Not like I used to, so I don't do it. I've decided to just
stop. It was a year ago last November at a Prince's Trust concert with Eric and
some of us got together and he played "Crossroads" and I played
drums, and as soon as I started I knew that I couldn't really be the same guy
anymore with various nerve injuries. It took a toll with me. Some of it may be
having played since I was 5. That's a lot of air miles.
CreditCards.com: What's been the highlight of your career?
Collins: The highlight for me was playing in Eric Clapton's band,
playing drums behind Eric. Nothing to do with Genesis or my own solo career.
CreditCards.com: The London Times ranks you at 19th on its list of
the 50 Richest People in Music, right behind Eric Clapton and tied with Rod
Stewart with a net worth of roughly $184 million. How does that feel?
Collins: Wow. I should enjoy it more.
CreditCards.com: Last question: have you officially retired?
Collins: Oh, I have retired. I mean, my manager doesn't like
hearing me say it but I've retired. I've stopped. I've got two young boys, 7
and 11, and I've earned the right to do nothing, you know what I mean? That's
not to say I wouldn't write another book; my kids are
desperate for me to start writing because they love listening to the songs, so
one part of me says maybe. We'll see. We'll see.
CreditCards.com: Congratulations on your latest milestone, Dr.
Collins.
Collins: Admiral! You can call me admiral!
See related: QA with legendary Rolling Stones sax man Bobby Keys
Published: May 17, 2012
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