Phil Collins – Recording Compendium, Part 11: 2005 – 2024

Part 11: Tarzan: The Broadway Musical / Going Back | 2005 – 2024

Last update: 30/03/2025 | Overview | back to part 10

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The meeting between Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett and Rutherford in November does not result in a joint Genesis ‘Lamb’ tour, but Banks, Collins and Rutherford don’t want to have met in vain, and they decide on joint live activities for 2007 with the line-up from 1978 to 1992! Until then: Disney alert! The original schedule for the Tarzan musical was brought forward by four months and Phil had to leave for New York City at the end of the year. This timing proved to be extremely inconvenient as Phil Collins was once again in the midst of a marital crisis that had worsened dramatically over the course of the year.

Phil moves into the Peninsula Hotel in New York City for the next few months. And while he distracts himself with the musical adaptation of Tarzan on Broadway at the beginning of the year, his wife Orianne decides to end their marriage at home in Switzerland. Phil, on the other hand, befriends Dana Tyler, the anchorwoman, and the alcoholic offerings in the mini-bar of his hotel room. During this phase, Phil also takes part in a production by master orchestrator Arif Mardin, who has already worked with Phil on Face Value.

Finally, the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway opens its doors on 10 May for the premiere of Tarzan: The Broadway Musical. In addition to the 5 songs from Disney’s Tarzan and a new version of a song from Disney’s Tarzan II, you will hear eight new songs written by Phil Collins. Tarzan: The Broadway Musical – Original Broadway Cast Recording, the album of the musical recorded by the cast of the musical with Josh Strickland as Tarzan, will be released on 27 June.

As a bonus track, the album also contains a version of a new title sung by Phil himself…

To promote the start of the musical, there are some (semi-playback) performances for TV, for which Phil Collins also presents a new song as a duet with Josh Strickland.

During this time Phil will also record a new solo song in two versions for the Canadian-English film Almost Heaven, in which his daughter Joely Collins stars. This will be Phil’s last original song to be released for the time being – but only in conjunction with the film.

In the second half of the year Phil tries to fulfil his role as a father. The musical hiatus is interrupted on 7 November when the reunited Genesis finally announce their live plans for the coming year at a press conference in London. Phil was no longer available for extended tours, so the tour would be called ‘A Selection of Shows’.

Genesis‘ Turn It On Again Tour runs from mid-June to mid-July, with the legendary final stop in Rome’s Circo Massimo in front of half a million people! The tour will then continue in North America from early September to mid-October. It is believed that the 13th October show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles will be the last Genesis concert ever. During the tour Phil developed problems with his left arm and numbness in his fingers, which will severely limit his future life.

Like Collins senior, Phil’s eldest son Simon Collins has decided to pursue a career as a drummer and singer. On his current and third solo album he invites dad Phil to play a drum duet on one of the tracks…

Back in Switzerland, Phil has to a) find a new place to stay and b) undergo an operation on his neck vertebrae, as the numbness in his left hand has not improved.

Two further operations on his elbow and hand will follow in the new year. Phil Collins must be prepared for a longer recovery period.

On 4 February, Phil presents his friend John Martyn with the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for his life’s work. He also takes part in Martyn’s current album production with backing vocals and some keyboards. One of the songs is already familiar from Phil’s album Both Sides. Tragically, John Martyn was unable to complete the production of his album. He died at the age of 60 on 29 January 2009 and the album was released posthumously in 2011.

Manager Tony Smith, worried that Phil, now living alone in his new cottage in Féchy, Switzerland, might not enjoy the time off and the inactivity it entails, reminds him of his oft-stated idea of making a ‘cover’ album of his favourite songs from his youth. Phil Collins ‘bites the bullet’ and starts digging through the Motown productions of the 1960s to compile a list of his favourites. In his new home studio, he begins to record demos of these songs as pre-production for the album, which is given the working title 18 Good Reasons.

Homework is interrupted at the end of November when Phil Collins agrees to give an exclusive acoustic concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the international school his son Nicholas attends. The gala at the Campus de La Châtaigneraie – also known as ‘La Chât’ – is reserved exclusively for parents, pupils and teachers. His performance with colleagues Ronnie Caryl and Brad Cole will be recorded and sold in a limited edition CD for charity to those attending the gala in the New Year.

In January 2009, the professional recording sessions for the planned cover album finally begin, spread over the whole year. Phil, who is still handicapped, has to tape his drum stick to his left hand in order to record the drum takes on his small old 1964 drum kit.

The final recording phase began in the new year. In mid-January, three of the still living legendary Funk Brothers (the studio troupe behind almost all Motown productions from 1959 to 1972) were flown in for their overdubs. Further sessions for keyboards, strings and horns followed. In between: Genesis’ induction into the legendary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and the Songwriter Hall Of Fame’s Johnny Mercer Award for Phil. Most of the 29 tracks should be recorded and mixed by April. The first song will be available for download to newsletter subscribers on Phil Collins’ official website from 10th April. The album – now renamed Going Back to match the cover photo – will be released in two editions: a ‘Standard Edition’ with 18 tracks and an ‘Ultimate Edition’ with 25 tracks (plus 4 tracks on DVD, including the interesting ‘Making Of’ video).

A remix is produced for promotional purposes, and the title song is also shortened for radio.

Even before the album hits stores, there will be a few live showcases with the Going Back programme at the end of June/beginning of July: two in Philadelphia, three in New York City, a TV special in London and a concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The last of the three concerts in NYC will be recorded for a later video release…

Following the release of the album, Phil will make a number of TV appearances, including a final appearance at the Prince’s Trust Rock Gala, where he will perform three songs after his former colleague Mike Rutherford and his revived Mechanics. He will also play drums for Eric Clapton for the last time on Crossroads – the last time he will ever sit behind a drum kit in front of an audience.

On 4 March 2011, Phil Collins announced that he would be taking an indefinite break from his music career for health and personal reasons. Three days later, Collins’ management curiously denied the news, only for Phil to confirm his statement hours later.

Phil also buys an apartment in New York’s Central Park to be closer to the musical scene, but also to be able to spend more time with Dana. For the first time, he is also concentrating on a book project about his 15-year passion for collecting Davy Crockett, the Alamo and the Texas Revolution, which has fascinated him since childhood thanks to the classic film with Fess Parker. The book is due to be published next year.

Phil Collins’ book The Alamo And Beyond: A Collector’s Journey will finally be published on 12 March. Otherwise, 2012 finds him in the midst of a serious crisis. His alcohol problem, which had been acute for years, and the relocation of Orianne and his two sons from Switzerland to the USA, caused him to crash and burn. Music was out of the question. With one exception… For an a cappella interpretation of a Collins classic, the vocal acrobats of Straight No Chaser brought Phil Collins into the studio for lead vocals…

The request from shooting star Adele for a collaboration in October 2013 arouses Phil’s curiosity and gives him renewed self-confidence. In a small studio he had set up in Manhattan, he worked on an idea for a song by Adele.

Even though the track didn’t go beyond demo status, the commission gave Phil a boost. In November, Phil is already open to further concerts with Genesis, and in December, at a gala for the Little Dreams Foundation, he tells the press that he has started songwriting again and can even imagine a tour.

In March of the new year, Phil will be reunited with his ex-colleagues Banks, Gabriel, Hackett and Rutherford for a BBC documentary about Genesis, reflecting on their time together. Sum Of The Parts: Together And Apart will be broadcast in October. Sum Of The Parts is also being released on DVD and Blu-ray.

In May, Phil makes a surprise appearance with a school band at a concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of his sons’ Miami Country Day School. Nic Collins plays the drums. It was Phil’s first (semi-)public performance with his then 13-year-old son. In addition to In The Air Tonight, Phil sings Land Of Confusion by Genesis for the first time in a solo performance.

In September manager Tony Smith organises non-binding rehearsal weeks in Miami for the Collins solo core band with Jason Bonham on drums, but Phil can hardly get involved. His relationship with Dana Tyler breaks up and Phil has to cancel his performance at a Little Dreams Foundation gala in December due to vocal problems.

Phil reunites with Orianne. And in May he signs a deal with Warner Music to re-release all his solo albums with previously unreleased bonus material next year. An autobiography is also planned. With the reunited family settling into a newly acquired property in Miami Beach over the summer, Phil Collins announced the end of his musical hiatus in October, including plans for a tour and a new album.

That same month, Phil Collins suffered a major setback in his optimistic mood: pain in his right side led to an operation on his spine. The resulting numbness in his right foot leads to two falls and two broken feet… just in time for the upcoming re-release campaign of his albums!

The Take A Look At Me Now series begins in January with the two albums Face Value and Both Sides. Six more albums are released as double CDs until June. In March, the gig cancelled in December is made up for at a gala for the Little Dreams Foundation. At the same time this gig is the ‘baptism of fire’ for Phil’s son Nic, who is now 14 years old and can take over the role of drummer.

On 29 August, for the first time since the Going Back shows, Phil proves that he can still perform in front of a large audience. At the opening of the US Open tennis tournament in New York, he performs in front of more than 20,000 spectators in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. For the last time, Phil performs standing up, with his son Nic on drums.

Finally, Phil Collins’ autobiography with the ironic title Not Dead Yet will be published on 20 October, which will also be released as an audio book read by Phil himself (unabridged on 10 CDs!). The press conference for the book release in London’s Royal Albert Hall will also be used to announce the live comeback planned for next year: the Not Dead Yet Live! tour!

Despite Phil’s ongoing health problems, which only allow him to play seated concerts, the Not Dead Yet Live! tour will kick off in Liverpool on 2 June 2017. Further concerts in Europe, including England and Ireland, will follow, with a tentative tour finale in London’s Hyde Park on 30 June. The set list will once again feature two Genesis songs and, at some of the first shows, the English version of an Edith Piaf classic from the 1950s…

When Phil is in London for several shows, he falls again in a hotel room. This leads to the cancellation of two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. These are rescheduled for the end of the year. Further concerts in England and Scotland are scheduled from 22 November to 3 December. As a teaser, there will be a live stream of a song from the rehearsals two days before the tour starts…

The Not Dead Yet Live! Tour 2018 will first delight fans in Central and South America from 22 February to 23 March, and six months later from 5 to 28 October in North America. Two songs will be streamed live from the soundcheck in Chicago…

The Not Dead Yet Live! tour continues in Australia and New Zealand from 19 January to 6 February 2019. There will be a second leg of the tour called ‘Still Not Dead Yet!‘ in Europe from 2 to 26 June and in the USA from 23 September to 19 October. Phil Collins’ final solo concert will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but plans are already well underway for another Genesis reunion tour.

The Last Domino? is the motto of the Genesis tour, which was due to start in Dublin in mid-November. However, this year’s global state of COVID-emergency has forced the band, who would be touring with Nic Collins on drums for the first time, to postpone the dates. As if that wasn’t enough drama, Phil’s personal life was thrown into turmoil when it was revealed that Orianne had secretly married another man in August and was barricading herself in their Miami home in Phil’s absence. A nasty legal battle ensues and Phil is back in the headlines.

In January of the new year, Phil sells the house in Miami and thus closes the chapter of the 5-year “family reunion” experiment. Genesis’ The Last Domino? tour can now finally begin on September 20th. They will be on the road in the UK until October 7, and from November 15 to December 16 it will be North America’s turn.

The final round of The Last Domino? tour will take Genesis through Europe one last time with a three-day finale at the end of March in London’s O2 Arena. With that, Genesis should be history.

Since these last performances by Genesis, it is unclear whether we will hear anything new from Phil musically…

In mid-October, Phil and Nic Collins are available to “Drumeo”, an online platform for drummers, for extensive interviews and video recordings over two days at Lake Geneva. The resulting 2h video called Phil Collins: Drummer First will took more than two years to be finally published on Youtube. Otherwise it remains quiet (despite rumors that he is working on new songs) around Phil Collins from 2023 onwards…

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Author / Research: Steffen Gerlach
Editors: Ulrich Klemt, Christian Gerhardts
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