How heartbreak encouraged Phil Collins to pursue pop superstardom

22 July 2024, 13:45

Phil Collins' music career took a drastic turn after he experienced heartbreak. Picture: Getty

By Thomas Curtis-Horsfall

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He'd been behind the drums for over a decade by that point.

Phil Collins had played drums in Genesis ever since he was a schoolboy, when the band formed in 1967.

After original singer Peter Gabriel left to pursue his own musical path, Collins stepped up to fill his role as the band's singer, as well as play the drums.

For both iterations of the band, they established Genesis as one of the foremost progressive rock players.

But there came a time when he needed to chase ambitions of his own, outside of the Genesis unit.

For Phil Collins, the impetus to make such a drastic career change was a devastating heartbreak that encouraged him to leave Genesis and go solo.

The catalyst for Collins' pursuit of pop superstardom was in fact his wife, Andrea Bertolucci, who divorced him having cheated on him prior, inspiring a song that'd change everything for Phil.

The song he poured his heartbreak into? 'In The Air Tonight', which then evolved into his debut solo album, Face Value.

Phil Collins briefly left Genesis during a period of personal strife. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images). Picture: Getty

In his 2016 memoir, Not Dead Yet, Collins revealed how the devastating situation pushed him to try something new.

"I never thought of myself as a songwriter," he said. "So in my instance, it took a divorce to kickstart [songwriting]."

Angry and distressed about his ex-wife Andrea divorcing him, the drummer departed Genesis briefly to get his head straight.

Finding himself in a unique position creatively, Collins penned most of the songs that would form Face Value as "messages" to Andrea in an attempt to win her back.

Obviously, the most famous of these would become 'In The Air Tonight', a song which literally points to the fact his negative feelings were "in the air", impacting him, his broken marriage, and his family.

Phil Collins with his first wife, Andrea Bertorelli, and their daughter Joely in 1976. (Photo by Graham Wood/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Picture: Getty

Collins explained to Mix magazine: "I got back to find that I had a lot of time on my hands because the family wasn't there, I rang up and said, 'Can I have my drum machine?'"

"Because I had to start writing some of this music that was inside me."

"The lyrics you hear for 'In The Air Tonight,' I just sang. I opened my mouth and they came out. I never wrote anything down and then afterwards, I listened to it and wrote them down."

The song's brooding menace, slick twilight aesthetic, and iconic drum sequence ensured 'In The Air Tonight' was an enormous hit for the newly anointed solo star.

Featuring in the opening episode of the cultural phenomenon-come-cop series Miami Vice boosted the song's appeal further, propelling it to number two in the UK charts, as becoming a top five hit around the world.

The success of 'In The Air Tonight' even convinced Genesis to change tack and shift to a poppier direction.

It could've been a hit for Genesis with Collins claiming to have offered it to his bandmates first, though he said it was rejected for "being too simple", a claim Tony Banks denied.

"He&squot;d call constantly and when I&squot;d answer, instantly start raging, calling me names, telling me to come home." (Photo by Graham Wood/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — "He'd call constantly and when I'd answer, instantly start raging, calling me names, telling me to come home." (Photo by Graham Wood/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Picture: Getty

'In The Air Tonight' became Phil Collins' signature song, and its message wasn't lost on his ex-wife after hearing it for the first time either.

In 1976, Collins left for a tour with Genesis. Caring for their two children, Joely and Simon, as well as their two dogs, in a frustrated move she had an affair.

Believing Collins had checked out of their marriage, that wasn't the case - in 1979 he became increasingly unhinged in an attempt to win her back.

"He'd call constantly and when I'd answer, instantly start raging, calling me names, telling me to come home," Andrea told the Daily Mail in 2015.

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight (Top of the Pops 1981)

"He turned up unexpectedly a couple of times. He didn't realise he was driving me further away."

Upon discovering that she cheated on him with a painter and decorator, Phil spoofed his 1981 Top Of The Pops performance of the song by miming with a pot of paint on a workbench next to his keyboard.

"I felt sick and betrayed," Andrea told the Daily Mail. "I knew straight away it was a message to me."

Phil certainly got his message across, but by that point the damage was irreparable. From his heartbreak, he managed to become a pop superstar.