PHIL COLLINS RETIRES!!

British singer and drummer Phil Collins has confirmed reports he is to retire from the music business.
"I am stopping so I can be a full time father to my two young sons on a daily basis," he wrote on his website.
His decision, he said, was not down to "dodgy reviews", "bad treatment in the press" or "because I don't feel loved".
Collins' announcement was in response to a series of "distorted" articles that had erroneously painted him as "a tormented weirdo", he added.
"There's no need for the straitjacket!" joked the 60-year-old, whose hits include In the Air Tonight and Another Day in Paradise.
A former member of rock band Genesis, Collins went on to achieve huge success as a solo performer, including hit albums as No Jacket Required and ...But Seriously.
The winner of seven Grammy awards was also the recipient of an Academy award for his soundtrack for the Disney animated film Tarzan.
Last year he topped the UK album chart with Going Back, a collection of Motown and soul covers.
The singer has two sons, Nicholas and Matthew, with his third wife Orianne Cevey, whom he divorced in 2008.

HIS BIOGRAPHY

Philip David Charles Collins was born on January 30, 1951 in the borough of Chiswick, London, England. His mother, a talent agent, enrolled young Phil in a stage school, where he studied acting and singing. He was one of the screaming fans in The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night (1964), and played the Artful Dodger in the London stage production of Oliver!. Music soon replaced acting as he took up the drums, inspired as much by British beat bands of the era as legendary jazz drummers Jo Jones and Buddy Rich.

Collins first came to prominence as the drummer for Genesis after joining the band in 1970. He stepped out from behind his kit to sing lead after the departure of original vocalist Peter Gabriel in 1975. Collins launched his solo career in 1981 with the release of Face Value, which included his classic "In The Air Tonight." He was one of the most popular artists of the 1980s, topping the charts with such smashes as "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" (1984), "Sussudio" (1985) and "Another Day In Paradise" (1989).

Phil Collins Quote
" I'm not a singer who plays a bit of drums. I'm a drummer that sings a bit."

Phil Collins was one of the world's most popular and successful performers of the '80s and early '90s, both as a member of Genesis and a solo star. He's had at least six chart-topping singles under his own name on the Billboard pop charts, and chalked up an additional pair of number ones as a member of Genesis and in a duet with Marilyn Martin. His solo albums, at at 2002, have sold over 150 million copies worldwide.
"No Jacket Required", his best-selling record, spent more than a full year lodged in the U.S. top 20.

Collins has collected seven Grammys to date, including Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" (1984), Producer and Album of the Year for No Jacket Required (1985), Record of the Year for "Another Day In Paradise" (1989) and Best Soundtrack Album for Tarzan (1999). In 1990, he received two American Music Awards, including Best Pop/Rock Male Artist, as well as three Billboard Music Awards, including one for Top Worldwide Album. Collins has also picked up a pair of Golden Globes, including one for "You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan, which also won him an Oscar for Best Original Song.
Collins played drums on the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid in 1984, and was the only person to appear at both Live Aid benefit concerts in London and Philadelphia on the same July day in 1985. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 2003.