{"id":574821,"date":"2026-07-30T03:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574821\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T03:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:43:10","slug":"why-phil-collins-didnt-want-to-become-genesis-lead-singer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574821\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Phil Collins Didn’t Want to Become Genesis’ Lead Singer"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1975, Genesis<\/a> went through one of rock\u2019s most famous lead singer changes when Peter Gabriel<\/a> left the group and was replaced by Phil Collins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Collins, who had been the band\u2019s drummer since 1970, eventually led Genesis to massive commercial success. Still, guitarist Steve Hackett<\/a> recently revealed that the drummer was very resistant about becoming the band\u2019s frontman.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil, at that time, very much wanted to be a drummer,\u201d Hackett explained during a recent appearance on the Word in Your Ear<\/a> podcast. \u201cNow this might sound strange, because he’d been on stage playing the part of the Artful Dodger in Oliver. And so, Phil arrived with, he was a star. He arrived with all these girlfriends and a fur coat and everything. But then he said, \u2018I don’t want to be a singer.\u2019 He said, \u2018I want to be a drummer because that’s a more respectable gig.\u2019 Of course, history would tell a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Collins sang harmonies on Genesis’ tunes, Hackett said he very rarely drew much attention to his vocal abilities. Still, when the drummer did sing, the talent was undeniable.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All 180 Genesis Songs Ranked Worst to Best<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe happened to be singing one day in the van, when we were pulling out for petrol,\u201d Hackett remembered. \u201cI said, \u2018You’ve got a really good voice. You sound a bit like Steve Winwood<\/a>.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Oh, do you think so?\u2019 And I think gradually, it came \u2013 the confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genesis Auditioned Outside Singers Before Giving Phil Collins the Job<\/p>\n

Collins wasn\u2019t the first choice to replace Gabriel. In fact, Genesis exhausted many options before landing on their future frontman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe auditioned a number of people,\u201d Hackett noted. \u201cAnd I think Phil got frustrated one night and we were actually in Trident [Studios] recording backing tracks for an album that had no lead singer. And he said, \u2018Let me have a go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At that moment, one of Genesis\u2019 record label executives happened to be within earshot.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony Stratton Smith, who was Charisma\u2019s label boss, stuck his head around the corner and heard a few bars that [Collins had] sung,\u201d Hackett recalled. \u201cHe said, \u2018Sounds like you’ve found your lead singer, chaps. So I’ll be off.\u2019 And so the deal was done very, very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Top 10 Phil Collins-Era Genesis Songs<\/a><\/p>\n

Interestingly, a different prog rock icon had separately campaigned for Collins to take over as Genesis\u2019 singer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met Jon Anderson<\/a> for the first time, of Yes<\/a>, at Phil’s first wedding,\u201d Hackett recalled. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018Why don’t you make Phil the lead singer and get in another lead instrumentalist and get another drummer?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Yeah, I would. I’m not sure if the other guys will go for that.\u2019 But then luckily, I think we all made the right choice collectively after that. And Phil was brilliant, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genesis Albums Ranked <\/p>\n

From Peter Gabriel to Phil Collins to that guy who came after Phil Collins, we take a look at all of the band’s studio records.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Jim Allen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1975, Genesis went through one of rock\u2019s most famous lead singer changes when Peter Gabriel left the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278,43],"class_list":["post-574821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}