Phil Collins opens up about charity and music career

By Kayla Ziadie-December 4, 2013

Singer-song writer Phil Collins, former drummer for Genesis who rose to fame with his heartfelt tunes, spoke at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Resort on Wednesday Dec. 4th during a press conference for his organization, the “Little Dreams Foundation.”

He discussed how his charity has grown, as well as touching bases on news of his music career.

“Back in 2000, I was getting many letters from many kids who wanted to make be involved in the music industry,” Collins said.

“Little Dreams was the perfect opportunity for them to get that confidence; whether they made it big or not; of doing something you love in front of people you admire,” he stated.

The Little Dreams Foundation was founded by Collins and his former spouse Orianne Collins to help youth realize their potential in sports, music and visual arts.

They reached out to their friends in the music industry to help mentor the kids, becoming known as “godparents,” before reaching out to sports and arts. The headquarters resides in Miami, where Orianne lives with her children. They don’t promise the select picked youth a guarantee rise to stardom.

“It’s really best if they just have fun with it,” Collins said.

“[Little Dreams] has grown around the world. There have been kids that through us, now have a number one hit in the Philippines, or have won a medal in the Olympics. Seeing how much our kids achieve is always a wonderful feeling, whether it is in athletics, art, or music,” he said.

While working on his foundation, Collins has been on a music hiatus since 2004. He’d been playing drums since he was five years old, joining the band Genesis as a drummer at 19. After many years of success with the band, he expanded his horizons to pursue a solo career.

His time alone earned him countless numbers of Grammy and Oscar nominations and wins, with hit singles and music featured in movies such as Tarzan and television shows like Miami Vice.

It wasn’t until several years ago that he decided to take a break, choosing to spend more time with his children, several of which are grown.

“I started winding down my career in 2004,” Collins said.

“I stopped work because I just felt that it was the easy way for me to get off the roundabout,” he said. “I wanted to spend time with my kids and do what I needed to do as a dad; I’d been living in hotels since I was 19. It was just nonstop.”

When asked about touring, one thing he’d enjoy was watching families attend his concerts with their kids who grew up listening to his music.

“It was interesting on the Genesis reunion tour,” he mentioned.

“We had a really wide age group in the audience. You could see the fathers and mothers saying to their kids, ‘You see? This is what I’ve been telling you about,’” Collins said.

“It’s a really nice feeling to see that in the crowd, to know your music has had that sort of impact on others.”

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Published for Teenlink South Florida, a publication of the Sun Sentinel