How Sudden Heartbreak Led to 1 of Phil Collins’ Biggest Hits
Phil Collins has made plenty of hits, but his most famous song is, without a doubt, the 1981 single “In the Air Tonight.” The rock band frontman shared the heartbreaking reason that led him to start making the album and its hit song.
Phil Collins found major success as a solo artist
Collins was a member of the prog-rock band Genesis, but in 1979, the band was taking a break. During that time, Collins wrote and recorded his debut solo album, Face Value, which went No. 1 in the UK and held the 7th place spot on the US Billboard chart.
Face Value contained plenty of hit songs, including “In the Air Tonight,” which went on to become Collins’ biggest hit. Other popular singles included “I Missed Again” and “If Leaving Me Is Easy.”
Phil Collins’ debut album was inspired by his marriage breaking up
The album was one of Collins’ biggest successes as a solo artist, but it came about because of a heartbreaking reason. In a now-popular TikTok, the singer explained that the late 70s saw Genesis going out on a massive world tour.
“The result of that was my marriage breaking up,” he explained. Collins married Andrea Borterelli in 1975, but things got rocky when the singer’s intense touring schedule kept him away from home for long stretches of time.
Borterelli ended up leaving Collins and taking their children to Canada. Collins moved to Canada for a few months in an effort to make the marriage work, but the couple called it quits for good by 1980.
“By the time I came back from Canada, Mike [Rutherford, Genesis bass and guitar player] and Tony [banks, Genesis keyboardist] were doing their solo albums,” Collins continued. “And so I had some time on my hands.”
He said he started to “fiddle about” in his rudimentary home studio and started to make some of the biggest hits of the 1980s.
‘In the Air Tonight’ wasn’t Phil Collins’ only solo hit
Face Value and “In the Air Tonight” might be some of Collin’s biggest successes, but they were far from his only ones. Other huge singles include “Another Day in Paradise,” “One More Night,” and “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now).”
Collins racked up three UK and seven US No. 1 singles as a solo artist and, between his solo work and his time with Genesis, he has had more US Top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s.
The singer has sold an estimated 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists in the world. Collins has won eight Grammy awards, two Golden Globes, and an Academy Award for “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Tarzan.
Collins is also one of just three artists who have sold over 100 million records both as solo artists and separately as principal members of a band. The other two are Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.
