Before he honed his craft, Phil Collins was surrounded by the sounds of the greats. Many of his influences—except for The Beatles—injected contemporary music with the sounds of soul, jazz, and Motown, like the lesser-known London band the Action and jazz drummer Buddy Rich. However, despite the embarrassment of riches, there’s only one artist he wanted more than anything to have worked with.
In the realm of rock music, progressive rock shares more in common with jazz than perhaps any other variation. From a young age, Collins studied rudimental drumming under the tutelage of Lloyd Ryan and Frank King because, in his words, “In any kind of funk or jazz drumming, the rudiments are always there.” He grew to appreciate Rich because he viewed him as the gold standard, considering his West Side Story medley one of the greatest performances of all time.
As he developed as an artist in his own right during the rock resurgence of the 1960s and then the progressive rock peak of the 1970s, one figure who captivated his attention was Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham. As someone who knew how to merge hard rock with a jazz edge powerfully, Bonham resonated with Collins because he infused drumming accessibility with technical adeptness.
Amid his studying of the drumming greats, Collins sought guidance from figures like Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Ginger Baker, and Keith Moon. Bonham remains atop of his list of favourites mainly because he was “the first drummer I ever gave a standing ovation,” and ‘When The Levee Breaks’ will forever be a song he associates with drumming at its peak.
However, when a fan asked him in 2016 during an online Q&A what one artist he would like to work with that he hasn’t already, none of these drumming virtuosos came up. Instead, he named the ‘Queen of Soul’ herself, the ultimate voice of gospel and one of the world’s most important social activists of all time—Aretha Franklin. “I’ve always loved her voice,” Collins explained in 1993 during his episode of BBC’s Desert Island Disks, picking ‘Somewhere’ as one of his favourite songs.
On numerous occasions, Collins has been open about his admiration for Franklin, who, like Collins, also mastered the art of balancing emotional depth and technical proficiency in her music. The two also managed to transcend a diverse array of genres, with Collins capturing the attention of those who sit in a handful of respective fields. Soul singer Diane Birch, for instance, once described him as coasting the line between “being really cheesy and being really sophisticated.”
However, comparing the two beyond generic musical sensibilities also seems unnecessary and near impossible. Ultimately, Collins’ love for Franklin no doubt stems from his love of soul music, which profoundly shaped his musical identity and inspired him to incorporate soulful elements into his own work, even as he carved out a distinct path in pop and rock.
Collins’ fixation with her voice, in particular, likely taught him a lot about infusing emotional depth into vocal delivery, pushing him to explore the expressive potential of his own voice and convey raw, heartfelt emotions in his performances.
