The Genesis of Phil Collins
In the summer of 1970, 19-year old drummer Phil Collins was looking to join a band. He’d recently played percussion on George Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass and his confidence was sky high. While scouring the music journals, he came across an interesting ad: “Tony Stratton-Smith is looking for 12-string guitarist plus drummer sensitive to acoustic music.”
Stratton-Smith was a music manager and founder of Charisma Records. He knew Collins from Phil’s days as drummer for the band Freehold. Collins tracked down Stratton-Smith at a London bar called the Marquis. He learned the band holding the audition was called Genesis. They’d released two albums and were featured in Melody Maker magazine.
Collins obtained the band’s phone number and gave a call. He spoke with “a soft-voiced, nervous-sounding, well-spoken chap” named Peter Gabriel. Collins presented his drumming credentials and was invited to audition at Gabriel’s parents’ house in Surrey. Collins convinced his friend Ronnie Caryl to audition for the guitarist role.
A week later, the two men crammed their instruments into Caryl’s battered Morris Minor and drove out of London. Surrey was a posh countryside, home to universities and England’s upper class. Collins had never seen so many trees. He was from Middlesex, a gritty urbanized county of London that was hub of the British Film industry.
