Lily Collins Said Her Dad Phil Collins Wrote This Award-Winning Song for Her
Former Genesis frontman Phil Collins is undoubtedly one of the most prolific — and chart-topping — singers and songwriters of the 1980s and ’90s.
With hits like “In the Air Tonight,” “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” “Sussudio,” and “Take Me Home,” Collins established himself as one of the most successful musical artists of his generation.
Here’s the song from his catalog that he composed for his daughter, actor Lily Collins.
Lily Collins’ parents divorced when she was 5
Lily, who has become a well-established actor in her own right, is known for her roles in The Blind Side and Mirror, Mirror. In her memoir Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, Lily recalled when her parents’ marriage fell apart.
“When I was 5, my parents got divorced and my dad moved from our home in England to Switzerland, where he stayed for more than 20 years,” Lily wrote. “He may have still been alive, but most of the time, it felt as if he were completely gone.”
Lily added that her father’s absence made her hyper-aware of her own behavior: “I became extra careful about what I said and how I said it, afraid he’d think I was angry or didn’t love him.”
Collins told Lily’s mother it was over…by fax
Once the singer met his future third wife Orianne Cevey in 1994 during his Both Sides of the World tour, he wrote in his memoir Not Dead Yet, things moved swiftly between the couple. He acted quickly to “explain the situation” to his children and his wife Jill.
Collins said that it was “difficult” to reach Jill by phone. So, he eventually had to “handwrite a four- or five-page letter in which I try to outline the way I feel about us, about the future.”
The “Easy Lover” singer decided that “the most reliable and quickest way to get this letter to her is to fax rather than post it. So that’s what I do.”
In the end, his fax to his wife practically becomes an open letter in newspapers around the world.
“Somehow Britain’s biggest-selling tabloid has got hold of the fax I sent from my dressing room in Frankfurt. What The Sun has edited and used from what I actually wrote has given them the headline, “I’M FAXING FURIOUS,’ and the story that I was faxing for a divorce.”
The song Phil Collins wrote for his daughter Lily
“You’ll Be in My Heart” was part of the Disney animated film Tarzan, for which Phil contributed to the soundtrack. The song won an Academy Award in 2000 for Best Original Song. In his memoir, the musician said the song “began life as a melody I imagined singing to a baby Lily.”
Lily told EW of the tender ballad, “We grew up watching Disney shows and movies together, so [“You’ll Be in My Heart”] was his way of kind of being able to do it for his kids. It was so special.”
