A Legend In His Own Right

Phil Collins is considered a legend in the music industry. But in 2002, Phil was inducted as a Disney Legend for his contributions as singer, songwriter and composer on the animated film, Tarzan. Songs like Son of Man, Two Worlds, Strangers Like Me, and You’ll Be In My Heart, which earned him an Academy Award, have become instant Disney classics. At the time of Phil’s induction, he held the record for shortest induction time, just three years after Tarzan was released.

                

According to Phil’s Disney Legend profile, he told People magazine in 1999, “We’ve broken some molds. The fact that I’m singing and the characters don’t burst into song makes it very different.” Disney composer, Mark Mancina also comments, “There’s something very sincere about Phil’s voice…His voice has a tendency to wrap itself around you and bring you into his world. As soon as he starts singing, it’s just magic and provides a very welcoming feeling.”

Strangers Like Me Official Music Video…

In addition to singing the songs in English, Phil translated the feelings those songs evoke into several different languages including German, French, Italian, and two different dialects of Spanish (Latin American & Castillian). No other artist in Disney history has done this! Huge props to Phil!! 😀

Phil Goes International With The Music of Tarzan…

The movie went on to mass popularity, which kept Phil very busy before and in between legs of his Final Farewell Tour. He teamed up once again with Mark Mancina to compose the music for Tarzan II: The Legend Begins, co-writing the score and contributing two new songs for the film.
Then, if that wasn’t enough, in 2006 Tarzan took to the stage as Phil was also asked to work on the Broadway musical. In addition to writing nine new songs for the show including Everything That I Am and Who Better Than Me, he was heavily in the production of it as well. The show opened on Broadway in May 2006, running for a year until it closed in July 2007. The production received mixed reviews, despite receiving awards internationally, and had several runs worldwide including The Netherlands from 2006 – 2009; Sweden from 2008 – 2009; Hamburg, Germany from 2008 – 2013; and the Philippines in 2013.

It’s pretty obvious that Phil impressed Disney with his musical prowess. In addition to the Tarzan series, he worked once again with Mark Mancina on the score and songs for the 2003 Disney film, Brother Bear. Composing much of the score, Phil wrote the lyrics to all of the songs and sang many of them in the movie.

With all of those accomplishments, it’s easy to see why Phil is considered a Disney Legend! 🙂

His Royal Work

Phil Collins has received countless awards throughout his long & accomplished career…Grammys, Golden Globe Awards, Brit Awards, GQ’s Man of the Year, even the coveted Oscar. But none more precious than being appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (which is a form of knighthood) in June 1994 by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, for his work as a trustee of the Prince’s Trust.

Phil began working with The Prince’s Trust in 1983 and was instrumental in starting The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala and performed at all of the concerts throughout the 1980’s. This concert had been one of the main fundraisers for the trust until 1990.

The Rock Gala was resurrected 20 years later, in 2010 where Phil once again performed. He also joined Queen’s drummer, Roger Taylor to accompany him on drums during the finale song, We Will Rock You.
Along with performing at each of the rock galas, Phil devoted much of his free time to the Trust, working with children who had an interest in music.

On November 16, 1992, Genesis played a benefit show at Royal Albert Hall, in the presence of the Royal Family, during their highly successful We Can’t Dance tour to aid The Prince’s Trust. It was said to be one of Phil’s best performances on that tour. The concert was broadcast live via Trent FM (Nottingham), Capital FM (London), and BRMB (Birmingham) in the UK. Including the proceeds from this show, Genesis has donated over £1.000.000 to The Prince’s Trust.

As long as we’re getting Phil inducted into the Hall of Fame, let’s get him fully knighted as well!
Sir Phil Collins…yes, it does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? 😉
So while you’re signing our online petition (if you haven’t already done so), please do check out Get Phil Collins Knighted! Facebook Page and One More Knight Blog, both are simply fabulous!

Until next time, Phil & Genesis Fans, much love to you!
Have a wonderful New Year’s celebration and be sure to toast Phil while you’re ringing in 2014! 😀

And the Awards & Accolades Begin “Against All Odds”…

In a departure from the major badass attitude of Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going, our dear Phil shifted gears and completely switched up his musical style for Against All Odds.

This piano driven ballad, which still featured Phil’s signature drum sound, was originally penned and recorded as part of his debut album Face Value. Not quite happy with this song he originally titled, How Can You Just Sit There, Phil decided to put it to rest for a while. Then, while on tour with Genesis in 1983, Phil was approached by Taylor Hackford to write & record a song for his upcoming film Against All Odds. After watching the finished film on video tape, Phil knew that How You Can Just Sit There would be a perfect fit for this film (with a few modifications of course). He went ahead and rewrote the lyrics specifically for the film, and renamed it  Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now).

As the song steadily climbed up the Billboard music charts, it became a major selling point for the movie and received an Oscar nomination in 1984 for Best Music, Original Song. Despite the Oscar nod in the form of this nomination, Phil was snubbed outright by the Academy. While all of the other artists were asked to perform their nominated songs at the awards show, sadly Phil was not (clearly the Academy has no taste!). After rearranging his Australian tour to be present at the ceremony, he had to endure what is reported as a “painfully awful” performance of his nominated song by Ann Reinking. Though videos or even clips of the performance have never been posted on youtube, I’ve heard that supposedly there were camera shots of him in the audience literally sinking in his seat, mortified and embarrassed by Ann’s performance of trying to act out the song’s lyrics rather than singing them. A talented dancer, choreographer and stage performer in her own right, this performance is rumored to have damaged her career as a Hollywood actress. Many of the articles I’ve read have indicated that the reason Phil was not invited to perform was because producers of the Academy Awards show were supposedly unaware of Phil’s rapidly rising success at that time. Even letters to Phil’s record label apologizing for the oversight refer to him as “Phil Cooper.” Excuse me but where did they come up with that?

Obviously disappointed and still maybe even just a tad pissed off afterwards, Phil never really let Ann live that performance down. Taking several potshots at her throughout the remainder of the No Jacket Required Tour, he introduced Against All Odds with humorous comments like, “Miss Ann Reinking can’t be here tonight, so it looks like I’ll have to perform my own song…”

Despite losing the Oscar to Stevie Wonder, Against All Odds did go on to become Phil’s first No. 1 song on The Billboard Hot 100 Charts and earned him a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards in 1984, as well as a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Original Song. WhooHoo! Nice come back!

And that, my dear Phil Fans, was only beginning…